Charles Davis Jr.

On November 4, 2015, Charles Spurgeon Davis, Jr, died peacefully at home, from
cancer: Charles was born in Montgomery, Alabama on November 30, 1922. He enlisted
in the US Navy in1942, serving on the battleship USS New Mexico until the war's end.
While stationed in Beeville, Texas he met and married the love of his life, Janet May
Winder, on September 11, 1944. After the war ended, he attended Vanderbilt
University, receiving his bachelor's degree in 1948, and then taught for a year in
Deckard, Tennessee, before obtaining a master's degree from Peabody University. He
then moved to Oak Ridge with his wife and first son, Charles D. (Rick), where he lived,
with the exception of two years in Florida, for the rest of his life. He first taught at
Robertsville Junior High School, and then served as a guidance counselor at Jefferson
Junior High School and Oak Ridge High School, obtaining his PhD in Education from
University of Tennessee, and retiring in 1977.
After retirement he continued to serve the community as part of Recording for the Blind
and Dyslexic and the American Association of University Women; he was a supporter of
WUOT, the Children's Museum of Oak Ridge, Aid to Distressed Famili.es of Appalachian
Counties, the Ecumenical Storehouse, the League of Women Voters, and the Oak
Ridge Institute for Continuing Learning within Oak Ridge, as well as the American Red
Cross, Doctors Without Borders, and a number of veterans' and children's charities; and
was a member of St Stephen's Episcopal Church and of the Elks Club. He and Janet
travelled extensively throughout the United States and Europe. He was also an avid
photographer and needle-pointer, and a supporter of the Oak Ridge Chamber Music
Association and the Oak Ridge Playhouse.
Charles was predeceased by his parents, Charles S Davis, Sr, and Laura (Georgia)
Davis, and sister Myrtle Brock, all of Montgomery, and by his beloved wife Janet. He is
survived by his five children, Rick, Karen, Laura, Molly, and Carl; Molly's husband, Virgil
(Bud) McKee, Laura's partner, Pamela Breeden, and Carl's partner Sherree Alder;
grandchildren Rick and wife Laura, Krista Ash, and Elizabeth Jordan; sister-in-law Hazel
Winder; nieces Betty Kalen and Linda Winder and nephews Robert (Bobby) Brock,
Davis Brock and Thomas Winder and wife Jill; and great-grandchildren Emily, Ryan,
Ayla, Gwendoline, Coraline, Alexander, Hayley, and Dexter.
Charles continued to support the schools in Oak Ridge as part of Oak Ridge Public
Schools Education Foundation, and in lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be
made to the Foundation, the Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties, or the
Free Medical Clinic of Oak Ridge.
A memorial service will be held Saturday November 7, 2015 11:00am at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church 212 N. Tulane Ave. Oak Ridge TN 37830.