- Date Of Birth: December 11, 1919
- Date Of Death: December 23, 2017
- State: Idaho
Eileen slipped away and passed on December 23rd at Good Samaritan Village at the age of 98. Eileen was born December 11th, 1919 on her grandparent’s wheat farm in Idaho County near Winona, to Everett Adair and Clara Roakey (Roche), she was to be their only child. They moved to Kamiah when she was 5 years old. Eileen fondly remembered living there in her early childhood and “just loved the Nez Perce Indian children” which she would swim, ride horses and pick melons with in summers. Only a few spoke very little English, although she remembered in particular, Elvira Blackeagle, who Eileen vividly cherished as a girlfriend. The family moved to Spokane during the Great Depression where Eileen attended Lewis and Clark High School. For entertainment the family would park the car in downtown Spokane while eating penny candy and people watch. Eileen attended the University of Idaho and became a member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, graduating in 1941 with a B.A degree in Business Education. She worked summers in her college years for the Washington Trust Bank and as a bookkeeper at Geiger Field. After college her degree took her to Cascade Idaho High School to teach business courses. She and Gene (Eugene Davidson) met on the University of Idaho campus, her sophomore year when they were on a blind date for a SAE fraternity dance at Halloween. Gene and Eileen married in Walla Walla upon his return from the South Pacific WWII Theater March 26th, 1944. Their first home was a small house in Walla Walla where Gene worked for Green Giant Produce. Returning to Spokane in 1949, they co-owned the William Tell Motel and a Shell gas station on East Sprague in Spokane along with her parents until 1953. Their only child, Douglas, was born in December 1949 while in Spokane. They built several homes together in Spokane, along the way working as a team to then decorate, sell and build again, sort-of early house flippers. Eileen enjoyed being a mother and housewife. When first married, she could not cook, but she studied hard, read many cookbooks and became an accomplished gourmet cook, she volunteered and gave 100% with her club work. She was tall and thin which caused her to sew most of her clothes, she was an excellent seamstress; sewing only Vogue patterns with stunning detail. By far her greatest joy was decorating; she was truly in her element with the task of creating a house into a wonderful home environment. A promotion for Gene took them to Lewiston, Idaho from 1960 to 1980. Throughout the 1960’s the family liked to camp up on the Clearwater and Selway rivers where she would paint landscapes. In Lewiston, Eileen served as a Red Cross Grey Lady with the Opportunity School for the Handicapped and also on the board of the YWCA. She was president of the following organizations: Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority, Tsceminicum Federated Club, Mary Ball Mothers Club, and P.E.O.Chapters both AR and BL. Upon Gene’s retirement, they returned to Spokane to build one more time a beautiful home on the South Hill which they enjoyed for an additional 32 years. In September 2012, they moved into a twin home at the Fairview Village Estates in Moscow, Idaho to be near their son and daughter-in-law. In Spokane she was president of P.E.O.Chapter EQ for 1988, ’89, ’90. Eileen was a P.E.O. member for over 50 years. She also was President of The High View Garden Club in Spokane.
