Papa (Earl Eugene Davis) had 2 daughters with Naomi Arrowood. They were married over 50 years but lived apart for more than 30. Their daughters are Dolly Louise 10/15/1950 & Esther Gail 4/6/1957?

Dolly had 3 children: her first daughter was with her 1st husband Donald I. Dunaway. They were married 10/14/1967 in Dayton, Ohio. SHe was widowed 7/3/1970 as a result of a swimming accident.

Tonya Michelle dunaway 12/2/1969

Dolly married Kerry Dunn and gave birth to 2 more children,

Kami Nicole 5/12/1972 & Kerry Eugene (after his grandpa) 9/2/1973

Dolly's 2nd husband Kerry adopted Tonya around 1975.

Esther "gail as we know her" had 2 sons with a husband Terry Bodey, they divorced in the 80's

Gail's sons are Joshua Lowell Bodey & Jesse Lynn Bodey

Gene, as he went by, also had a daughter previous to his marriage to Naomi. Bonnie was her name, she married Roy Peck and had no children.

Gene married Barbara in the 90's. She became a widow after his death from pancreatic cancer.

Papa loved to travel, taking road trips to many areas in the US and Alaska by cruise.

He enjoyed taking the family on extended vacations to see many areas.

He enjoyed farming, crops and livestock and he owned Dayton Ohio's first buy here pay here lot on 3rd street in west Dayton.

He was a smart and successful business man.

Papa always came to see us personally on our birthdays. Bringing a card with a $50 savings bond inside. I knew that Dec. 2 every year I would see my grandpa.

As a child I spent many hours with papa walking the fields and checking the livestock. Papa was up by 5am every day and often in bed before 8pm.

He loved his family above all else.

I recall a time after he had sold his farm and moved to the city of dayton. The family had gathered for a holiday at my parents home in Urbana, Ohio. There was a farmer out in his field below the property. Papa watched him quietly from the window. I asked him if he ever missed farming. He replied "all the time"

In 1985 I went on my first date to the High school homecoming dance. As is tradition my date and I had a formal portrait taken. That photograph was displayed on the piano. When the family started gathering for the holiday meal, my papa approached that picture with his hands folded behind his back, leaning from his waist, he brought his face inches from that photo, inspecting it for an awkwardly long time. Once he decided to retreat he stood upright , did an about face while saying "hmmm" I never knew what that hmm meant but as his eldest grandchild, I'm sure he saw more of a young lady than a child.

when my eldest child and the first great grandchild was born, Papa asked me what I wanted or needed for him. I told him that I needed a college plan started. Papa loved that idea and started it off nicely. Every year my children also received a card and savings bond from papa to add to their college funds.

Papa was a mysterious and quiet man, wise and loving to the grandchildren but firm as well. He was truly the patriarch of the family. A rock that everyone depended on.

When he fell ill I went to see him regularly. I told him about a fantastic job offer that I got in Minnesota more than 12 hours away. He encouraged me to go and to do what was best for MY family of 3 children and a husband. I remember crying and crying when he said " Honey we are all teminal, just some of us have a better idea than others when we'll go" He said he'd be fine and that I would too.

The last time I saw him was Thanksgiving weekend. I only had 2 days off and drove all night with the children after work on Wed, got stuck in 6 hours of chicago traffic but still made it for turkey and time with papa. On friday as I was preparing to leave, I was told that Papa wanted to talk to me, so I waited…well past when I should have left in order to hear my grandpa's words of love and wisdom to me. But it was not to be, Papa had a rough day and didnt rouse much. I wish to this day that I would have called off another day to be with my grandpa one last time.

I spoke to him almost weekly while in Minnesota. It was hard to decipher what he was saying but when We got snow there way before Ohio did. He said he wished he could see the snow. I told him that he should come see me so he could see the snow, but I knew that was not going to happen. Immediately after our phone call ended, I gathered snow and made a large snowball. I put it in my feezer and set out to find some dry ice. No one had dry ice in Minnesota! instead I found him a precious moments figurine. It was the same one that my mom had sent me my first chirstmas away from home in California…a child putting a snow ball in the mail box with a note saying "Im sending you a white christmas" That evening I got the call that papa had passed.

His funeral was terrible. The fella doing the service didnt know papa and did a very generic eulogy and preaching. At the cemetery Proud to be an American was played, my aunt Gail sung aloud with the track. It was Sunny the week before Christmas, a beautiful day.

I know that my grandpa did see the snow in Minnesota, as I felt him with me through so much. I miss him and am sad that our time together was cut short, but there is so much that I carry with me everyday from him.

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As a little girl I would go to Papa's farm, It seemed like the wizard of Oz was on every year. He would sit in his rocker with his collie lady next to him, and me next to lady in front of the big console tv. Hanging just above the tv was a picture of an old man wearing a hat, reading a paper, in his rocker next to the fireplace, witha dog at his feet. I remember telling Papa "That's you and lady" he'd laugh and say I guess it is. About a year after he passed, barb gave that picture to me, It is displayed in my home today in 2014.

Earl E Davis