Daniel Clyde Davis

Daniel Clyde Davis was born on June 12, 1940 in Syracuse, New York and lived in Fayetteville, New York. He was the middle child between an older brother, David, and a younger sister, Sally. He had a paper route when he was 11. When he was in high school his family moved to Worthington, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus, Ohio. After graduation from high school, he went to Ohio State University as a student, and went to work at the Lantern, the Ohio State newspaper. He was a sports reporter and soon became the editor, until Woody Hayes, the football coach at OSU, got mad at him and threw him out of the locker room! Dan was never afraid to push his way into a situation if it meant finding some juicy news! He was a born journalist. He also was a born baseball fan - not as much a football fan!

By the early 1960's Dan could be found at the Columbus Dispatch as Sports Editor. By 1962 he was drafted into the Army and served as a journalist for a couple of years. He went on as a reservist, continuing to write stories and being a journalist for the Army until 1968. After the Army, he moved to the Dayton Daily News as an editor. In the early 70's he went to Fostoria, Ohio as the senior editor. In this capacity he was asked by the New York Times to cover a big news story in Detroit. He helped out the New York Times several times after this by reporting news for them.

Eventually, he realized he wanted to see the world. So, with a friend he headed for South America. They had many big adventures – including being arrested in Ecuador and thrown in prison for having some pills on him. They were antibiotic pills, but the police thought that they were drugs like heroin. Months later they got out of prison by bribing a guard with the gift of Dan's portable typewriter! They had many more exciting adventures and actually came to really love South America and its people,

When they finally got back to the U.S.A., they got acquainted with northern Georgia, at the beginnings of the Appalachian Mountains. They landed in the little town of Helen, Georgia. Dan soon became the manager of a German restaurant, the Wurst Haus. He made many good friends here as well as finding a lovely woman, named Betty, with whom to share his life.

Helen, GA was a tiny town, maybe 200 people, but they were trying to become a tourist town for the close-by city of Atlanta. They held an October Fest each year with a big tent and lots of food, but they weren't quite making it. They needed help! Dan was the man who saw the problems and had some good ideas to solve them! Soon he was put in charge of the Chamber of Commerce and buildings were built and Big Bands were hired and The Sound of Music was produced, live, and the crowds came! The little town was really spruced up. It became a beautiful Mountain Place just made for the tourists.

Of course, after a couple of years, Dan was ready to move on to the next adventure. He and Betty moved to the town of Cleveland, Georgia down the road towards Atlanta. Dan was the new editor of the White County News. He also founded a newspaper in Cleveland, The Telegraph, which later was taken in by the White County News. By the 1980's he had taken on the job of head of marketing for the Jellystone Park campgrounds. Finally, he moved down into Florida and became the political reporter for the Lauderdale News. Eventually he was editor of the Melbourne News.

Somewhere in his journalistic endeavors, Dan was asked by the creators of the USA Today to help get the newspaper organized and set up for publication. He and another man spent a lot of time figuring out this new format and finding ways to make it unique and interestingly useful. This format is still being used!
Dan tried the management of motels - big motels. He also continued producing October Fests and even some Irish Festivals. These were quite successful. He also published some very nice magazines during this time.

The 21st century found Dan gradually slowing down. Betty had a lot of sickness, and they wanted to stay in South Carolina where she had two great-granddaughters, Nevaeh Fay and Savannah Raimey Stuckey. Part of the time Dan and Betty lived with her son, John Stuckey. In 2010 Betty sadly passed away from a heart attack.

Dan then realized that he needed to go to Arlington, Texas to help his sister, Sally, who was in a nursing home with Alzheimer's. She had been getting care from Jeanne Davis, his sister-in-law, but now Jeanne also was not well, so he took on the task and visited Sally in the nursing home just about every day until Sally died in 2018. During those eight years it became obvious to Dan's family and many friends that Dan was also gradually getting dementia. He was desperate to write four or five books that he had in mind, but he simply couldn't. A typewriter or computer was impossible for him to use anymore. He couldn't remember what he was trying to say beyond the first sentence. So, in 2019 when Jeanne's daughter, Karen, (also Dan's niece) invited her mom to come to her home in St. Peters, Missouri to live, she also wanted Dan to come too. Moving to St. Peters allowed Dan to live next door to his grandniece and her family. He loved playing with the children when they came over. He said that "he came because all he wanted to do was to help people, including Jeanne." He had two and a half mostly pleasant years there until he finally passed away on January 26, 2022. Dan was 81.

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Dan's family will have a private memorial service in February.

Preceding Dan in death are his parents, H.O. (Davy) Davis and Helen Bartlett Davis; his brother, David Bartlett Davis; and his sister, Sally Jennings Davis.

Dan is survived by his step-son, John Stuckey; his step-grandson, Tim Stuckey; and his step-great-granddaughters whom he loved so very much, Nevaeh Fay Stuckey, and Savannah Raimey Stuckey; his sister-in-law, Jeanne Webb Davis; his nephew, Mark David Davis; his niece, Karen Davis Fry and her husband Todd Fry; his grandniece, Shannon Kitchens Fagan and her husband Daniel Fagan; his great-grandnieces, Cara Kinsey Fagan and Annie Fagan; his great-grandnephews, Daniel Sean Fagan and Michael Fagan. Dan loved his family and friends who will miss him tremendously!