Michael Parker “Mike” Davis

Michael Parker “Mike” Davis lived a full life well before his last day on July 17, 2022. He was eighty-five. Mike was the youngest of eight children of Ernest and Helen (Butler) Davis of Plymouth, Ohio. We think he was happy that he was the longest lived except for his 99-year-old sister, Doris, who convalesced many years at his home before her death. Mike’s story really starts with Janice, the love of his life, who he married in Indiana because he was too young by Ohio law. They celebrated their 69th anniversary a few weeks before his passing. All remember their dad was a storyteller, a proud USAF vet, a dachshund lover, a camping enthusiast, and a fan of all things Amish. He let others know he was a Korean era vet, if by a few months of first enlisting in the Navy and moving Janice to Guam. They spent many years at USAF bases in Michigan when Dad changed branches, and where the first four children were born. Duty in Japan followed, where baby #5 came to be. Mike had many stints in Vietnam and bases all over the world as a flight medic around this time. A year at Cam Rahm Bay followed before returning to the US and continuing his family’s travel odyssey in North Carolina, Germany, and back to Ohio, where the family settled in Shelby, Janice’s hometown. Mike finished his work life at hospitals in Shelby, Galion, and Columbus, and then commenced traveling the world again with Janice to Scotland, Australia, Hawaii, and Germany.

His children remember his humor as onetime he suggested opening the car doors and dragging their feet on the pavement as the car’s brakes squealed while descending a mountain in the Alps. One son made a career in the Navy, also Dad’s suggestion. He inserted himself and saved us whether we wanted it or not in many dramas, whether it was home repairs, car-buying, or out-of-control grandchildren. He was just as adept as getting his daughter’s ears pieced as he was volunteering at Scouts. He was hard to find before Christmas because he worked a second job so every toy in the Sears catalog could be purchased. More than anything, he and Janice showed their children how the love in a marriage was the center of it all. He provided many examples of tolerance, curiosity, and self-sufficiency.

He was preceded in death by everyone in his extended family, and no one in his immediate family, so we are counting on him to get us a good campsite! He is survived by his wife, Janice (Allwine) Davis, residing at Primrose Retirement Community, Mansfield; son Gerald (Theresa Lommerse) of Austin, TX, son Peter (Carol Parks) of Shelby, daughter Constance (Charles Shaffer) of Shelby, son Joseph (Karen Platt) of Harrisburg, PA, and daughter Elizabeth Davis Cohen of Union, KY; plus 9 grandchildren, 19 great grandchildren, and one great, great grandchild.

Family and friends are welcome on Wednesday, July 20, 2022, what would have been Mike’s 86^th birthday, at the Penwell Turner Funeral Home, 168 West Main Street, Shelby from 4-7 pm, where a rosary will be recited at 7pm. Mass of Christian Burial will be on Thursday, July 21, 2022 at 10:30 am at Most Pure Heart of Mary Catholic Church, 29 West Street, Shelby. Fr. Chris Mileski will celebrate the Mass and burial will follow in the church cemetery with full military honors conducted by the Richland County Joint Veteran’s Burial Detail. A luncheon will be served at Shelby Community and Senior Center, 154 North Gamble Street, Shelby following the burial. Memorial contributions may be made to St. Mary School, 26 West Street, Shelby, or St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, https://www.stjude.org/donate.

Appropriate ways to express sympathy for those unable to attend may be done by leaving an online condolence on Mike’s obituary at www.PenwellTurner.com or by leaving a comment on his post on the funeral home’s Facebook page, Facebook.com/PenwellFuneral.