My Mother's Story

She passed away on August 17, 2017.

Naomi Watkins Arnold, age 72, left us in spirit-form for her new home in the heavens above on August 17, 2017. She was a loyal child of God and will now be at peace.

She lived in Lithonia, Georgia at 3648 Snapfinger Road behind her standing army of trees and plants that shaded and protected the sanctuary of her home she created for herself.

Before Georgia, was Los Angeles, California where she took care of two daughters, her husband, and the stray cats her youngest daughter made friends wIth.

Her strength--a trait she shared with all her sisters--is demonstrated by the liberating, inspiring cross-country road trip from Los Angeles to Atlanta after both her children had graduated high school. Always pushing with faithful desire to get to her dreams, she went after them in Atlanta with an enthusiasm that you could hear in her voice when she talked about what she was doing to make her dreams a story she lived.

The story of her beginnings were much different from the one her life would become. She was born in Darien, Georgia the 4th child of 12 siblings to Booker T. Watkins and Sarah (Edwards) Watkins. She left Georgia to live with her grandmother Julia Holmes in New York at a very young age. She remained with her grandmother until her marriage to Donald Arrondell Gulston.

A result of her union were two daughters. The oldest, Samara Sutton, followed in her mother's footsteps as a health care professional; and the youngest, Vania Gulston, became a teacher.

In the early part of their marriage, they set off for Los Angeles, with two young girls in tow. Naomi raised her girls there, started her long career in the field of healing by becoming a respiratory therapist, and enriched her understanding of how to live in God.

After leaving Los Angeles, her story comes back full circle to where it all began--Georgia. In Georgia, her oldest daughter blessed her with three beloved grandchildren: Elijah S Gulston, Vaaliyah A Sutton, and Sakara Jameson. She made New Birth Church her spiritual home and invested whole-heartedly in moving the church in its mission. In Georgia, she worked for almost 30 years as a respiratory therapist, retiring from Select Specialty at Crawford Long Hospital. Of course her nickname "Spider" tells us that she liked to keep busy. After retirement, she still worked to heal people--but with spirit not man.

She lived her dream of sharing natural health care practices with others. She set up shop in Georgia, offering natural healthcare services in storefronts and booths in the Atlanta area. Through this work, she touched lives and filled her own life with a sense of purpose. She believed the work was her calling.

Her own body was one of her most regular clients; she worked on herself with such love and faith. The fight against the disease that invaded her body highlighted her strength. Her fight, witnessed by her family and friends, was courageous, dignified, and spirit-filled.

She leaves behind her eldest Samara Sutton (James Jameson) and Vania Gulston; her grandchildren Elijah S Gulston, Vaaliyah A Sutton, and Sakara Jameson; her brothers Booker, Lewis, John, Jerome; her sisters Jackie, Julia, Kitty, Velma, Gloria, and a host of nieces, nephews.