TRIMBLE, Ohio — Edythe Davis, 92, passed peacefully to paradise on August 11, 2023, at the home of her daughter, where she resided. She was born October 5, 1930 to Cassius Marion Heaton and Jennie Wade Heaton Coffman in Glouster.
In September 1948, after graduating from Glouster High School, Edythe married Dow Davis Jr. Edythe and Dow were married for 60 years and raised four children together. Edythe was employed as a mental health technician and LPN at the Athens Mental Health Center for
14 years. In 1974, Edythe and Dow moved to Roseville, where they found community among church friends and neighbors. Edythe volunteered for the Franklin Local School District for a few years before gaining full-time employment as a cook at Roseville Primary School, and she volunteered to clean the church for 10 years.
After her husband’s death in 2009, Edythe moved back to Glouster. As a devout member of the Church of Christ, Edythe lived a purposeful life, guided by unwavering faith. She valued her family and friendships and enjoyed the company of other people. When her kids and
grandkids were little and family and friends gathered to celebrate birthdays and holidays, she cooked traditional family dinners — homemade noodles and cabbage rolls were among her specialties. Edythe was a dutiful caregiver, an aspect of her character most evident in the way she cared for her disabled brother, Harold, who lived with her most of his life. If a neighbor fell ill, she showed she cared by delivering homemade dishes. She checked in on her friends through cards and letters.
Edythe’s favorite activities involved traveling and reminiscing about her childhood growing up in Glouster in the 1930s and ’40s. She loved movies from her era and could be counted on to recall names, dates, people, and places from way back when. Edythe had a lot of spunk and spoke up when she felt the need. She was generous and kind and modeled a life lived in honesty, simplicity, and practicality. Edythe will be dearly missed by those who knew and loved her, and she will be remembered for all the times she sat laughing and talking at the dinner table surrounded by family and friends.
She is survived by her daughter, Diana Chalfant of Trimble; sons David (Madelena) Davis and Dennis (Vicki) Davis both of Glouster, and Dow Davis of Baltimore, Ohio. She leaves behind six grandchildren: Dennis (Beth) Davis of Wooster, Ohio; Kim (Chris) White of Barboursville, West Virginia; and Darcy (Frankie) Davis, Sacha Vess, David Davis, and Rolland Chalfant, all of Glouster. Also surviving are seven great grandchildren and one great-great grandchild. She has one surviving sister, Joy Hooper of Jacksonville; and two surviving
brothers, Harold Heaton of The Plains and Gail Heaton (Peggy Griffith) of Canton. Also surviving are many nieces and nephews, and her church family of Roseville and Trimble.
Besides her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband, Dow; five siblings: William Heaton, Juanita Chappelear Handa, Dean Chappelear, Charlene Ruth Chappelear and Harry Chappelear; a great-granddaughter, Olivia Paige Davis; her mother and father-in-law, Dow and May Richards Davis; her son-in-law, Rolland Chalfant; sisters-in-law Evelyn Handa Chappelear and Mary Heaton Edwards; and a brother-in-law, Robert Hooper.
Services will be held at 12 p.m. Friday, August 18, 2023, at the Morrison Funeral Chapel with Doug Roush officiating. Interment will be in the Maplewood Cemetery. Calling hours will be Friday from 10 a.m. until the time of service. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to either OhioHealth Hospice 444 W. Union Street, Athens, OH 45701, or Tomcat Bridgebuilders, PO Box 164, Trimble, OH 45782. Arrangements have been entrusted to Morrison Funeral Chapel, Glouster-Bishopville. A message of comfort may be sent to the family at www.morrisonfc.com.
