Obituary - Patricia Watson Haynes

Patricia Watson Haynes, 80, of Richmond, Virginia passed away on Friday, December 30, 2022. Patricia was born on March 9, 1942, to the late Ruth Vaughan Watson and Joseph Watson, Sr. of Short Pump, Virginia. She was preceded in death by siblings Joseph Watson Jr., Anne Watson Smith, and Linda Watson George.

Her memory is survived by her loving children, Sherry Haynes Jenkins (Ronnie) and Deanna Haynes Hornbarger; niece, Trudy Woodring; nephew, Scott George (Christina); four grandchildren, Crystal Vaughan Ramakrishnan (Thiru), Jake Jenkins (Stevie), Amber Hornbarger Marrero (Nelson) and Callie Hornbarger McDonal; and six great-grandchildren, Cora Wynne, Dam, Ani Grace, Jaxson, Elijah Kade and Dominic Watson.

Patricia was born and raised in Short Pump, Virginia where she described her childhood as very loving, with her parents instilling the value of hard work, respect, and the love of music in their family for the generations to come. Patricia was taught piano by her father and often sang on the local radio station- leading her to expand her childhood dreams to run and win ‘Miss Short Pump’ in a local pageant. Patricia graduated from Douglas Freeman High School in 1960.

After graduating, Patricia became a doting mother of two daughters and a businesswoman at the same time. Patricia’s career began at a Richmond-based personnel recruiting agency in which she was employed for 14 dedicated years as Director, managing 16 employees. After the owner planned to leave the business, she was not chosen as the successor due to her gender as a woman. This both inspired and fueled Patricia to open her own firm after receiving her Certified Personnel Consultant Certification in 1984. Commonwealth Personnel Consultants was incorporated and opened with her two partners in February 1985.

Commonwealth Personnel Consultants was not only a formidable career move for Patricia, but her business became her passion that served the Greater Richmond area from 1985 to 2022. Commonwealth Personnel Consultants was one of the first woman-owned and operated recruiting firms in the Richmond, Virginia area where she focused on placing more women, minorities, and seniors into desirable positions over her many years in business. Patricia led the business through many successes, which allowed her to become a trusted and relied-upon Personnel Consultant to place the ‘right person in the right position’ in Richmond. In 2001, Patricia opened a sister company, Commonwealth Computer Training, Inc. that provided computer software and soft skills training, expanding her applicant’s accessibility to ‘get the job’.

While President of Commonwealth Personnel Consultants, Patricia gave back to her community by serving as Member (1985), President (1990) and Board Member (1990-1992) of the Richmond Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO); Chairwoman of the NAWBO Bell Atlantic Women of Excellence Program; 1996 graduate of Leadership Metro Richmond; Team Up!!! Metro Richmond Pacesetter Division Chairperson; and was a Board member of the MCV Hospital Hospitality House (The Doorways), Henrico Business Council, Greater Richmond, and Virginia Chambers of Commerce. Along with community leadership positions, she was awarded several accolades such as the Small Business Advocate of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration (1998) NAWBO President’s Award (2013), NAWBO Corporate Partner of the Year award (2014) and Make-A-Wish Greater Virginia 2017 W.I.S.H. Circle Honoree (2017). Lastly, CPC & Patricia were the corporate sponsors of the Enterprising Women of Excellence Banquet and Women in Wellness Forum, which benefitted breast cancer research at the Massey Cancer Center.

As much as Patricia lived and breathed her Richmond-based business for the last 37 years, her true love was being with her family. She often said that while she loved her two daughters dearly, there was no greater joy in life than being a grandmother, or ‘Meme’ as they called her. Patricia was an amazing, dedicated, active, and spirited Meme to her four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Her free time was consumed with taking her grandchildren to the movies twice in a day, countless shopping sprees, never missing a sporting event or recital, frequenting Richmond festivals with the grandchildren in tow, and encouraging them to take the world by storm, with her always by their side. She led by example and taught her grandchildren the value of hard work, the reward of giving back, and the power of never giving up. Being Meme was the greatest pride and reward of her life.

Patricia will be greatly missed by her friends, colleagues, the Richmond community, and most of all her family. She will be remembered as a force to be reckoned with, an outspoken woman that pursued her dreams, and for fiercely loving her family first.

Funeral Services will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, January 7, 2023, at the West Chapel of Bennett Funeral Home, 11020 W. Broad Street Glen Allen, Va. 23060. The service will be officiated by Robin Williams. To honor Pat’s love of beautiful plants and flowers, the family would be grateful for any contributions from Richmond- based florists such as Strange’s Florist or Coleman Brothers Flowers, Inc. that Patricia frequented.