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IN LOVING MEMORY OF
Richard A.
Davis
September 27, 1915 – January 13, 2009
Obituary
SOUTH BEND -- Richard A. "Dick" Davis, 93, of South Bend, died at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday (Jan. 13, 2009) in The Sunset House of Mishawaka.
He was born Sept. 27, 1915, in LaPorte to Arthur S. and Louise (Wendt) Davis. On April 8, 1938, he married Marie E. Spromberg in South Bend.
She survives in Mishawaka along with two daughters, Kathryn L. (Gary) Wilson of Markleville and Liese M. (Tom) Kreiser of Elkhart; one adopted daughter, Gilly Simpson of Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England; one son, Dr. Timothy E. (Sandy) Davis of Elkhart; eight grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.
One brother, William Davis, and one granddaughter, Megan Wilson, preceded him in death.
Mr. Davis was a 1933 graduate of Central High School, South Bend. He began working at Bendix Corp. as a mail clerk and delivered the mail around the plant on roller skates. He retired in 1979 as supervisor of the aerospace division after more than 40 years of service. He had been active in the Boy Scouts, attaining the rank of Eagle Scout.
He was a longtime ham radio operator with the call signal W9HQ, and a member of Community Congregational Church of South Bend, Bendix Retirees Club and the Izaak Walton League.
Mr. Davis, aka the "Watchdog of Juday Creek," fought off developers and pollution sources to preserve the creek, one of Indiana's last naturally spring-fed waterways. He designed and built his own home and cabinets, built dollhouse furniture for his daughters, and volunteered at the Clay Township branch of the South Bend Public Library after his retirement, when he devised a method of repairing the bindings of old books that was adopted by other area libraries.
Friends may call one hour prior to today's 11 a.m. funeral service at Billings Funeral Home, 812 Baldwin St., Elkhart. The Rev. Clyde A. Trumbauer, pastor emeritus of Calvary United Methodist Church of Elkhart, will officiate. Weather permitting, burial will follow in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, South Bend.
Memorials may be given to the Izaak Walton League, in care of Billings Funeral Home. Visit www.billingsfuneralhome.com to send online condolences.