Doristine Watkins Minott: Guardian of the Watkins Family Legacy
- Donald V. Watkins
- Dec 4, 2025
- 4 min read
By: Donald V. Watkins
Copyrighted and Published on December 4, 2025
I talk to Doristine Watkins Minott every day. The public knows her as “Tina Minott.” In our family, we call her “Teannie.”
Teannie is two years older than me. She is also my youngest sister. Teannie is No. 4 and I am No. 5 of the six children of Levi and Lillian Watkins. We are extremely close as siblings.
Whatever trials and tribulations I have gone through since childhood, Teannie has been there for me every step of the way. She has blocked for me on the playing field of life for as long as I can remember.
Teannie is also one of my personal heroes. I look up to her. I admire and respect her. I value Teannie’s judgment and opinion on virtually every subject because she is super-smart, very good at analyzing complex situations, and quick on her feet.
Teannie was a public school teacher, and later, a school administrator for most of her career. In both capacities, Teannie built the lives of young people in a way that contributed to their longterm success in life, and she was very good at it. Teannie took children from all backgrounds and gave them a reason to believe in themselves and their unlimited potential for success. No other teacher or school principal I know has done so much for so many public school students with so few resources.
Every student who attended a school led by Teannie was a better person after his/her exposure to her. Teannie developed their knowledge, character, and confidence within a cocoon of love and support. She developed and molded the "whole student."
Strong Mentors, Educational Preparation, and a Purpose-Driven Life
Teannie grew up in a home with two strong mentors. Our dad, a former high school teacher, school principal, founding president of Owen Junior College, and longtime president of Alabama State University (ASU), taught Teannie how to serve as a decisive, effective, courageous, and visionary school administrator. Our mom, a teacher by profession, showed Teannie how to turbocharge the minds of her students and use their minds as rocket engines to jetison them to their rightful orbit in life.
From 1968 to 2007, Teannie successfully launched thousands of young students into the universe of life at a pace and orbit that dazzled superintendents in two public school systems.
Teannie graduated from Alabama State College Laboratory High School in 1964. She attended and graduated from ASU in 1968. Teannie obtained a M.Ed in Special Education from ASU in 1972. She earned her Ed.S in Educational Administration from Western Michigan University in 1977.
Teannie taught school in the Muskegon, Michigan and Montgomery, Alabama. She also served as an adjunct professor in ASU's Department of Education.
From 1989 to 2007, Teannie served as a principal in the Montgomery public school system at Baldwin Magnet Junior High School, Fitzpatrick Elementary School, Carver Jr. High School, Southlawn Middle School, and the Montgomery Technical Educational Center. With the exception of Baldwin Magnet School, Teannie was a "turnaround" specialist for underperforming inner city schools. In 2007, Teannie retired from her principalships, administrative roles, and ASU teaching position.
Teannie took care of our mom during the last 4 years of her life, for which we are eternally grateful. Mom died on October 6, 2013.
Teannie was married to Muskegon-banker Hector Minott, Jr., who passed in 2002. Teannie and Hector were parents to David, DeLeesa, and Nicky Minott, all of whom were adopted. Nicky passed in 2000 from a car-truck accident and David died in 2024 for a prolonged illness.
In 2013, Teannie relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina, the home of our youngest brother James Watkins. She stays extremely busy serving as: (a) the coordinator of supplemental activities for residents in her senior living housing complex, (b) the unofficial photographer for the complex, and (c) the in-house motivational speaker for new and existing residents.
Teannie is Still Working to Make Life Better for Others
In recent years, Teannie has served as my “Story Producer” -- the person who finds and develops story ideas for the articles published at: www.donaldwatkins.com. She also digitizes and chronicles all the content published on my website.
Teannie also assists me in researching, documenting, and preserving the Watkins family's history in America, which dates back to 1830. Additionally, she organizes Watkins family gatherings like the one depicted below in Atlanta in 2023.
Teannie and I are perfectly aligned in our social and political views and activism. We strive to serve as agents for positive change rather than self-centered parasites on society.
Above all, Doristine Watkins Minott is the guardian of the Watkins family legacy.
Great Family!
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Black women have always served on the front-line in the fight for equality. Although their contributions were sometimes overlooked in both the Civil Rights and Women's Movements, their…
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My five siblings and I have enjoyed extremely successful professional careers. We have earned a lot of college and university degrees and received a ton of awards, plaques, trophies, and certificates of appreciation for our achievements, for which we are grateful. However, there is one document that means more to us than anything in the world. It is called, “Certificate of Live Birth,” and it lists Levi and Lillian Watkins as our parents. There are only six of these certificates in the world. They were issued to Annie Marie, Emma Pearl, Levi, Jr., Doristine, Donald, and James Watkins. These certificates have been our passport to an incredible opportunity to serve and uplift humanity. Between these six certificate holders, millions of…