Thomas Dean Davis' Obituary
Thomas Dean Davis, 96, died Monday, October 31, 2016 at Willard Walker Hospice, Fayetteville, Arkansas. He was born September 24, 1920 in Oxford, Mississippi to Wentworth Thomas Davis and Myrtle Naomi McElroy. He left Oxford at age one month because he did not like the politics. Tom grew up in the Oklahoma oil fields, Kansas City, Missouri, and Oklahoma City. He earned a BA in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma where he met Jane Smith from Muskogee, Oklahoma. Their marriage lasted 71 years, 10 months. They called it a trial marriage. Jane died in May 2014. Tom spent three and one half years in the Army, where an injury forced an end to Officer Candidate School. He then served in malaria control in Okinawa. Returning to his beloved Jane, he completed his final year at OU and began his journalism career which included an MS in Journalism from Columbia University. He worked at newspapers in Altus, Oklahoma, Lubbock, Texas, Little Rock, Detroit and Chester, Pennsylvania. At the Arkansas Gazette, he was a reporter and then news editor. At the Detroit Free Press, he was a reporter and then day city editor. At Chester, he was executive editor of the Delaware County Daily Times. He retired at age 50 to enjoy the rest of his life. In retirement, he taught journalism one year at UCA in Conway, Arkansas and four years as Distinguished Professor at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. Notables he covered included Eleanor Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, William Fulbright, John McClellan, Orval Faubus, Douglas MacArthur, Thelonius Monk and Roy Rogers/Dale Evans. Tom and Jane greatly enjoyed spending one month every autumn in Switzerland for 13 years. Other travel included two China trips and travel to Canada, the Philippines, Italy, Spain, Greece, France and England, Scotland and Wales. Many of the trips were to visit daughter Anne, a foreign service officer. Jane and Tom followed the LPGA tour for several years, attending 8 to 10 tournaments a year across the USA. Tom was an avid golfer, bread baker and wine maker. He loved his red wine. He and Jane enjoyed weekly lunches at Mermaids and Fresco restaurants and regular Sunday breakfast gatherings with many of their oldest and dearest writer and journalist friends. Tom was always glad about his decision to retire to Fayetteville. Tom was preceded in death by his parents; his sister, Rachel Vinyard, and his brothers, Glenn and Gayle Davis. Survivors include daughters Anne Elizabeth Davis and husband, Col. Francis Alexander Nerone (U.S. Army, Ret.) of Falls Church, Virginia; Dean Stuart Davis and husband, Steven Caverly Moise, of Burlington, New Jersey; sons Bren Field Davis of Mesa, Arizona and Kent Wentworth Davis of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; grandchildren Ernestine Stuart Davis Nunez of Sicklerville, New Jersey; Charmaine Elizabeth Nerone of Richmond, Virginia; Thomas Christopher Davis of San Francisco and Helen Elaina Davis McGowan of Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania; great grandchildren Ava Elizabeth Nunez, Damian Elias Nunez, Olivia Marie Brown, August Alexander Brown and Talan Francis McGowan; nieces Jan Pierce and husband, Doug; Dr. Vicky Davis and daughter Bria; nephew Bryan Davis and wife Barbara. A celebration of Tom's life will be announced at a later date. Arrangements under the direction of Moore's Chapel. Memorials may be made to: Butterfield Trail Village Foundation, 1923 E. Joyce Blvd., Fayetteville, Arkansas 72703; Harrison-Whitehead Memorial UA Creative Writing Endowment, Fayetteville Community Foundation, P.O. Box 997, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72702; Single Parent Scholarship Fund of NWA, 16 W. Colt Square, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72703. For condolences, please visit www.mooresfuneralchapel.com
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