Clarita Bahjat

Clarita “Clover” Bahjat of Alexandria, Virginia passed away on Friday June 10th , suddenly. She was preceded in death by her beloved husband of 55years, Khalid S. Bahjat. She is survived by her two loving sons, Randall Bahjat and his loving companion Fernanda Melo and Andrew “Baghdad” Bahjat and his wonderful wife, Angie Knappenberger. She is additionally survived by her brother Lincoln Watkins, of Connecticut, as well as many nieces and nephews, who she all treasured greatly. Clarita was born in Forest Hills, New York on May 29th 1933 as the daughter of Clarence and Adele Watkins. In 1941, the family moved to Silver Spring. Clarita was a graduate of the University of Maryland where she met her husband, Khalid and also did graduate work in Theater at Catholic University. Her greatest love was the theater. She performed in numerous productions at Olney Theater, and at the University of Maryland , and with many, equity and non-equity theater companies in western and upstate New York over the years. The reviews of her performance’s were always outstanding. Some of the many famous names she worked with over the years included Burl Ives, Maurice Evans, Helen Hayes, Leonard Nimoy and Zasu Pitts . She always remarked that after doing theater for over 50 years, her favorite role was at the University of Maryland, where she got to portray the Nurse in “Romeo and Juliet”.Clarita was a sweet, caring woman who was a wonderful wife, mother and friend to all. She was filled with great kindness and humor , and brought joy to all she met. The family has asked that in lieu of flowers, friends please donate to your local animal care charity organizations. Clarita loved animals , and her many pets over the years brought her great joy. She never met an animal she did not want to spoil! Some of the organizations she championed were the Humane Society, ASPCA and the World Wild Life Federation.