Odis A. Davis
January 10, 1927 – July 14, 2017
NOCONA – Odis A. Davis, 90, died on July 14 in Nocona.
The funeral was at 10 a.m. on July 15 at Bethel Baptist Church in Nocona. Family visitation took place from 6 to 7 p.m. on July 14 at Jerry Woods Funeral Home Chapel.
Burial followed at Nocona Cemetery with Brian Spivey officiating.
Davis was born Jan. 10, 1927, in Courtney, OK to the late Ben and Mattie (Norvell) Davis. He married Mary Lou Robinson on June 2, 1944, at Marietta.
Odis and Mary Lou are the parents of three children: Twin sons Ronnie and Donnie, and another son Jerry Dan. Ronnie lives in Nocona, as do Donnie with wife Carrie, and Jerry Dan with wife LaDonna. Odis and Marylou are the grandparents of six grandchildren: Shawn Davis, Jarret Davis, Branda McEwen, Erica Patton, Zachary Smith, and Kristyn Starnes. They also are proud great-grandparents of 16 great grandchildren: Henley and Samuel Davis, Jase, Bodie, and Ava Davis, Kaden, Mattie, Gabby, and John McEwen, Ayden, Corbyn, and Dani Patton, Skyler and Bayler Smith, and Ryker Starnes to whom he is survived by, along with his wife of 73 year MaryLou and sister Lawana Forsythe of Wilson, OK.
Odis was preceded in death by his parents Ben and Mattie, siblings Jim Davis, Edith Davis Watkins, Lillian Davis Houge, Stanford Davis, Eldon ‘Bud’ Davis and beloved daughter-in-law Mary Beckman Davis.
In their younger years, Odis and Marylou lived in Courtney, where they farmed cotton until boll weevils demolished their livelihood. They then took all the money they had and moved to San Jose, CA, where they worked in an onion processing plant.
Although they had some family living there in California, the couple was unhappy being so far from the majority of their family in southern Oklahoma. They stayed in California just long enough to earn enough money to move back to Oklahoma.
In 1950, they moved across the Red River from Courtney to Nocona, where Odis secured a job with Union Tank Company. He worked for this company until 1959.
Working for “Union Tank” meant good pay; but when the company decided to move its headquarters, Odis knew he would be transferred. He and Mary Lou were very satisfied living in Nocona and had no desire to leave. So in 1959, they sold their new home and car and invested the money in their own business, LP. Gas Company, which is still in operation today under the management of their youngest son Jerry Dan and grandson Jarret.
Odis and Mary Lou also bought and operated another business, Nocona Hot Oil Service, which they sold in 1987. Throughout the years, Odis has always been a staunch backer of his children’s endeavors, many community activities, functions of the Bethel Baptist Church, and Odis was a Mason for over 50 years.
Odis semi-retired in the early 1990s to enjoy life in Nocona, where he kept busy with cattle, baling hay, oil properties and restoring tractors. Retirement was really never a word he understood, but the closest he found himself to that was in 2007 when he sold out his oil property, cattle, and hay implements at the age of 80.
After that day until his death Odis would be found daily at 4 a.m. at L.P. Gas Co from force of habit after 58 years opening the gates and front door to welcome his customers. When asked by Odis how to tell his legacy and life story he was known to say “My funeral has already been preached and story written by the life I have lived here in Nocona, and the things I have always stood for.”
In lieu of flowers Odis requested donation be made to the Mary Beckman Downtown Park Fund that is located at Wells Fargo Bank in Nocona or the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
Paid publication