Jane A. Watts, a registered nurse who later became a pediatric nurse practitioner, died of pulmonary fibrosis Monday at her Riderwood home. She was 79.

The daughter of Howard Adams Jr., a Bendix Radio Corp. engineer, and Robins Miller Rich, a homemaker, Jane Adams was born in Baltimore and raised in an apartment on West University Parkway and later in a home off Dulaney Valley Road.

After graduating from Roland Park Country School in 1956, she earned a nursing degree in 1959 from the Massachusetts General Hospital Nursing School.

Mrs. Watts earned a pediatric nurse practitioner's degree from the University of Maryland and a bachelor's degree in nursing from Towson University.

In 1959, she married her childhood sweetheart, Richard Blundon Watts, who became an electronics purchasing agent for Martin Marietta Corp.

She worked on the pediatric surgery floor at Johns Hopkins Hospital from 1959 to 1961, when she left to raise her three children.

In 1972, she returned to work as a nurse in the private pediatric practice of Dr. Robert E. Yim. Mrs. Watts joined the Baltimore County Health Department in 1985 as a pediatric nurse practitioner, visiting schools, clinics and students' homes.

She retired in 2004.

Mrs. Watts was active in the Roland Park County School Alumnae Association and, after retiring, enjoyed reading to children at library story times.

A lifelong dog lover, she rescued and raised basset hounds and coon hounds, family members said.

She enjoyed family summer vacations at Bethany Beach, Del., and traveling with her sister, Mary Eleanor “Jonni” Moore of Tonawanda, N.Y.

Her husband died in 1999.

Mrs. Watts was a communicant of the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, 5603 N. Charles St., where funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Monday.

In addition to her sister, Mrs. Watts is survived by two sons, Richard Blundon Watts Jr. of Pasadena and David Sunderland Watts of Ruxton; a daughter, Leigh Watts Mello of Plymouth, Mass.; and four grandchildren.

— Frederick N. Rasmussen