Donald Phillip Davis
Marriages
Ruby Hill - December 22, 1956
in San Diego, California
Burial Details
Obituaries
Grand Junction Daily Sentinel page 6 A Death Notice - November 22, 2016
Donald Phillip Davis, 82, Clifton, died Nov. 18, 2016, at his
son’s home.
Services will take place at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Brown’s Cremation
and Funeral Service.
Survivors include his wife, Ruby; one son, Scott of Palisade; one
daughter, Carol Davis of Nashville, Tennessee; and three grandchildren.
Memorial contributions to HopeWest, 3090B N. 12th St., Grand
Junction 81506.
Grand Junction Daily Sentinel page 5A In Memoriam - November 18, 2017
Don Davis February 23, 1934 - November 18, 2016
We ARE better people for having known you. We love and miss you deeply every single day.
In Loving Memory.
Grand Junction Daily Sentinel page 6 A Obituary - November 22, 2016
Donald Phillip Davis of Palisade
took the hand of God on
November 18, 2016, at the
home of his son, surrounded
by his loving family. He was
82.
Services will be at 11:00
a.m. Wednesday, November
23, at Brown’s Cremation &
Funeral Service, 904 N. 7th
St., Grand Junction. Burial
will be in Veterans Memorial
Cemetery of Western Colorado.
Don was born February 23,
1934, in Rock Springs, WY,
the eighth and youngest child
of Henry W. and Jeanette
Wilde Davis. After his father
died when Don was just a
year old, he was raised by a
Wyoming-strong mother, who
instilled a solid work ethic in
her son that would endure his
entire life.
Don graduated from Rock Springs High School in 1952 and
voluntarily joined the U.S. Navy that same year during the Korean
Conflict, serving four years on aircraft carriers including the
USS Bonhomme Richard and the USS Kearsarge before he was
honorably discharged in 1956. It was during this time that he
met Ruby Hill and eventually convinced her to marry him, despite
a disastrous first date in which he stood her up. He always
insisted that he accidentally had fallen asleep. Ruby gave him a
second chance and they married a year later, on December 22,
1956, in San Diego, CA. After they were married, he attended
California Western University in San Diego.
The couple moved to Phoenix where Don became a police officer
and would serve proudly for seven years. In 1963, he was
one of the arresting officers in the case that eventually would result
in Miranda rights.
The family moved to Palisade in 1966 where Don and Ruby operated
the Chuck Wagon, a mobile catering service, and the
Chuck Wagon Café in Clifton before he went to work for Public
Service Co. of Colorado, now known as Xcel Energy. Don
worked there for 23 years, starting as a substation electrician before
retiring in 1994 as Western Colorado Substation Manager.
Don loved Colorado’s outdoors and spent a good part of his
free time camping, fishing and hunting, especially on Grand Mesa
with his family and friends. Just days before he fell ill this
summer, he and his son, Scott, fished and caught from his boat
at Trickle Park Reservoir.
He and Ruby traveled after retirement, spending weeks at a
time in places such as Alaska, Australia, New Zealand, England,
Scotland and Wales, home of his mother’s ancestors.
His kids, Carol and Scott, were the light of his life, but that
light became much brighter on September 17, 1997, with the arrival
of his beloved grandchildren, Chance, Piper and Isabel.
The triplets became central to his life and he had a special relationship
with each of them.
Don was a longtime member of the Church of Christ.
He was preceded in death by his parents; a brother, Bill Davis;
and sisters, Lucille Olivero, Dorothy Lightner, Beverly Toombs,
Shirley Aslett and Ruth Davis.
Survivors include his wife, Ruby, to whom he would have
been married 60 years next month; daughter, Carol, of Nashville,
TN; son and daughter-in-law, Scott and Laurena, of Clifton;
grandchildren, Piper, Isabel and Chance; a sister, Evelyn
Dotson of Aurora, IL, and numerous nieces and nephews who
thought the world of him, especially Don Lightner of Rock
Springs.
We had an inside family routine in which Dad would jokingly
ask, “Do you think you’re a better person for having known
me?” Usually, our answers were accompanied by an eye-roll.
But the answer was always, “Yes.”
Because, Dad, we are better persons for having known you.
We are grateful for the wonderful care provided by our
HopeWest hospice team, Courtney, Charlotte, Cindy and Scott.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks for remembrance donations
to HopeWest, 3090 N. 12th St., Unit B, Grand Junction, CO,
81506.
