- Date Of Birth: September 15, 1920
- Date Of Death: May 29, 2021
- State: Michigan
Barbara Joyce Davis passed away peacefully on Saturday, May 29, 2021 at the age of 100. Barb was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan on September 15th, 1920 to the late Ray and Wilhelmina Myers. She was raised with her five siblings on a farm in the Scotts area.
Barbara “Bobbie, Aunt Bobbie and Barb” was a competitive swimmer and attended Scotts high school where she graduated in 1939. She met Dale Davis while working at Leaches Grocery store in Scotts. Dale and Barbra married and had three children, Darlene, Dale Jr. and Ronald “Ron.” She was a homemaker and worked at the JC Penny Catalog Department and later at Hydreco in Galesburg until her retirement.
As a homemaker she enjoyed cooking and was passionate about baking, especially delicious pies and her pecan cinnamon rolls. She passed her skills on to others in the family, but upon occasion may have left out a key ingredient in those secret recipes. She also taught her children the value of love, hard work, and respect. When the kids were younger, these lessons occasionally came with the assistance of her baking spoon, and then later when the boys got bigger than her, they learned that her kitchen broom had more than one use.
Barb and Dale Sr. enjoyed dancing. In early years they would occasionally hold dances in the loft of the large barn on their farm near Scotts, MI. She also enjoyed hunting, riding snowmobiles, farming, and tending her flower gardens. Later in life she took up quilting and made many beautiful quilts for family and friends. Over their many years of marriage Barb and Dale enjoyed traveling, at first in a truck camper and then with their fifth wheel trailer covering the lower 48 states.
In later years they wintered in Benson, Arizona where they enjoyed the warm weather and spent many hours riding four wheelers through the desert trails. After Dale’s passing Barb continued to travel to Benson for several more winters until the draw of great-grandchildren and wanting to be closer to family kept her at the farm in Scotts. Barb also accomplished her wish to “live to be 100” and received hundreds of cards and well wishes from her friends and family in the area upon becoming a centenarian. She was laid to rest next to her husband Dale in the Gilson Cemetery, on June 7th, 2021.
Barb was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Dale Davis Sr.; daughter, Darlene Rowlson; siblings: Virginia, Margaret, Walter Ray “Bud,” and Willie. She is survived by her sons, Dale Davis Jr. and Ronald Davis; sister, Patricia Penney and 7 grandchildren, 22 great-grandchildren and 8 great great-grandchildren.
