- Date Of Birth: October 4, 1961
- Date Of Death: June 14, 2021
- State: Indiana
Mr. Bruce J. “Burly” Davis, 59, of Elkhart, passed away peacefully but unexpectedly within the comfort of his Elkhart home on Monday, June 14, 2021 at 9:37 am. He was born on October 4, 1961, in Elkhart to the late William M. and Bonnie J. (Henninger) Davis, and is currently survived by his lovely significant other, Jo Markley and daughter of his heart, Megan Klee.
Also surviving Burly are his brothers William (Lafon) Davis of South Bend and Robert (Dr. Vickie) Davis of Avon; his sister Kathryn Levreault of Orlando, FL; aunts Jean and Phyllis Davis and Nancy Henninger; nieces and nephews Zachary, John, Cody, Robert, Nicholas, Todd, Tiffany, Ashley and Andrea; cousins Brian Henninger, Stacey Hare and Sheryl Reinholt; and Jo’s kids Kristin (Kelly), Tyler, Emma, Megan and Alyssa. Also surviving is a host of extended family, good friends, in-laws, outlaws, a small collection of shady characters and a whole bunch of fishing liars. Why, a few of these folks might even say something good about Burly if pressed.
Burly was born and raised in Elkhart and went on to graduate from the University of Indianapolis (Greyhounds) with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. After graduation, he was an accountant for many years. In his younger days, he and his brothers delivered newspapers. In fact, they were so prolific at “tossing the news” that they received numerous sales awards over the years. He was semi-retired while employed at Lochmandy Motors of Elkhart, but preferred to be outside either hunting, fishing or trapping.
Friday nights were special to Burly, as that was the night where all of his buddies stopped by to catch up on all the latest gossip and news. Usually, all of his buddies brought their dogs over as well, so apparently Friday was pretty special to them too, as they would romp around and play with Burly’s dog. He had many dogs over the years: Arby Jr., Arby Sr., J.R., Jesse, Syd and Emmy in the past and most recently survived by Jake. Bruce loved his dogs dearly and cared for them like royalty.
Although Burly was a man of few words, he will be best remembered for making sure that everyone knew where he stood. While he was not afraid to speak his peace, he was gentle and kind when the occasion called for it. He was also quite the oldies fanatic and had kept the same radio tuned to “Z” 94.3 FM having never turned it off for 13 years. Now THAT’S an oldies fan.
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