Larry Davis

Larry Gail Davis was born on October 22, 1943, the son of Omer Gail and Fred Davis. At six weeks of age he went to live with his grandparents, Cora and Omer Duncan of Boliver, Missouri, and remained in their care until he went off to college.

His grand father, who he called Pop, was a car salesman and that ignited Larry's love for cars. The perk was that he got to drive a bunch of cool cars that came onto the lot. As a young boy, he liked to help Pop with feeding and caring for the cows. He also spent many hours with Pop washing the cars at Pop's lot and earned a little money that way.

Larry was a good student and enjoyed school. He became a Cub Scout and Boy Scout and learned many skills and developed a love for nature, the outdoors, survival and camping. Scouts taught him the importance regarding one's character and integrity. It reinforced his Christian values, honoring God, family, and Country. All of these things remained important to Larry throughout his life.

His grandmother who he called Mom enrolled him in piano lessons at a very young age. He would later become Kay McColm's piano partner, and she would later become his wife. He participated in church, Sunday School, and Vacation Bible School, and excepted Christ as his personal Lord and Savior around 11 years of age at the First Baptist Church of Bolivar, Missouri.

He played sports and especially enjoyed baseball. He excelled at the sport and set records with his high batting averages. Larry participated in a couple of school plays. He played Jack Frost and had a leading role in his senior year play, where he discovered his comedic personality. He continued to have a good sense of humor for all of his days. He attended North Ward for grades one through eight and then Bolivar High School, graduating in 1961. Larry also enjoyed being in the high school band, playing the tenor sax. He was extremely proud of his saxophone, because he worked very hard and paid for the saxophone all on his own.

During his high school years, he worked for Paul Butler at Butler's Funeral Home in Bolivar, Missouri, setting up for funerals and unloading flower trucks. He saw the need to provide support and excellent service for families who were grieving lost loved ones, and how they needed extra care at such a vulnerable time. Another one of Larry's positions that he held was that of an ambulance driver, which was the perfect job for a teenager with a lead foot. The police made a few visits to Mom and Pop's house, asking for assistance and trying to get across to Larry that he needed to slow down. Let me add that was unsuccessful.

Kay was madly in love with Larry during high school, and her father, Joe McColm once said to Kay… you're not planning on marrying that Larry Davis are you? She answered. Oh yes I am! He said well honey, the way he drives he won't make it to the altar, but Larry proved him wrong. The high school sweethearts were married on September 28, 1963, so Kay packed her bags and moved with him to Dallas Texas.

He was a very hard worker and paid his own way through mortuary school, and then in the evenings he worked at night at the grocery store. Larry and Kay had one daughter, Lori. After completing school, they moved around in small communities,Springfield, Mexico, and California, Missouri, working in the funeral industry until settling down in the St. Louis area. Larry accepted an embalming position at Northland Mortuary in Jennings, Missouri, and later at Ziegenhein Funeral Home in South St. Louis. He was a member of the Teamsters Union for Embalmers and quickly was elected president due to his service and safety ethics, and his excellent negotiating skills. He held that title for many, many years. He also obtained his real estate and broker license and his auctioneers license. He was also a member of the Jaycees organization.

Larry had to work around the clock, but he was an involved father and never missed a Girl Scout banquet, school programs, or Lori's many dance recitals and choir performances. He came up with unique and fabulous ideas for Lori's slumber parties, tents in the backyard and sleepovers at the funeral home. He also nicknamed Lori when she was a baby, he called her Maginney, and called her that to the very end.

Larry was a lifelong learner and had many interests and hobbies like camping, boating, fishing, gun collecting, computers, art of every kind, photography, archery, & music. He had enormous musical ability playing the piano, tenor sax, and guitars.

He was thrilled to become a grandparent, and was just as excited to be a great grandfather. He was proud to have his name passed on to his only grandson, Jeffrey Lawrence, and completely surprised when his oldest great-grandson was also named after him, Landon Davis. Larry was an excellent provider for his family, extremely funny and a little corny, a devoted and faithful husband to Kay, and a loving, involved father to Lori and her family. He had many health issues, but rarely complained and was always very concerned about passing on his illnesses to Lori. Due to his poor health, attending outings, and church was difficult for him, but he had a strong relationship with the Lord, he prayed daily, and had a very strong faith.

Larry passed away on December 2, 2023. He is survived by his daughter, Lori Dohrman of O'Fallon Missouri, three grandchildren, Jeffrey Roeper of Old Monroe, Missouri, Rachel (Dohrman) and husband Jeremy Natale of Wentzville, Missouri, Sarah (Dohrman) and her husband, Kyle Fogg of O'Fallon, Missouri. He had five great-grandchildren Landon, Jayda, Rylin, Eva and Thomas, as well as, his brother Phil and his wife Rhonda Clark of Syracuse, Missouri, his sister Patricia and her husband John Price of Redlands, California, sister-in-law Barbara McColm of Bolivar, Missouri, as well as, many beloved nieces, nephews, and friends.
Larry is preceded in death by his wife, Janet Kay McColm Davis, his mother Gail Sacco, stepfather Paul Clark, grandparents Cora and Omer Duncan, Mother-in-law and Father-in-law Eva and Joe McColm, sister-in-law and brother-in-law Donna and John Young, and brother-in-law Earl Gene McColm.

Larry's passion was his love of learning new things. He was intelligent and rarely was his mind idle. He would spend hours reading and learning about everything he possibly could. You could say he was a life engineer, designing, building, and creating.

He loved his family and he loved celebrating holidays, especially Christmas and the Fourth of July. Most importantly, he loved a good meal and preparing new dishes and concoctions! What he did not love was cleaning up! He mastered the art of avoiding the clean up like no one you've ever known!

If he could leave behind words of wisdom, he'd say number one make God the center of your life. Praise Him in good times, pray to Him in bad times and uncertain times. He'd say never stop learning. Read everything that you can get your hands on. He would also say to have the most fun you can doing the things you're passionate about and don't wait for the opportunity to present itself. Get off your hiney, and make it happen. He'd also say he loves us and that everyone here, at one time or another, meant something special to him. Lori found a piece of paper with the following verse on it:

Psalm 86:11 Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness, give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.

Another Bible verse that Lori stumbled across as she was flipping through her Bible after her Dad's passing, is one that she thought was very fitting: Deuteronomy 32:2 Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants. I believe this is Moses speaking but it really sums up how Larry was. He always wanted to teach his family things that they could use to better their lives. He was a life long learner and teacher, and he will be missed more than words can convey.

He always said in his corny way - but you gotta admit one thing…I'm a pretty good guy! And he definitely was!

Funeral Ceremony will be 6:00 pm Friday, December 15, 2023 at St. Peters Chapel, Newcomer Cremations, Funerals & Receptions, 837 Mid Rivers Mall Drive, St. Peters, Missouri 63376. Visitation will be from 4:00 pm until 6:00 pm at St. Peters Chapel.


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