Mary Davis

Mary Mertle Davis was born to Jacob and Lena Willems on June 26, 1917. Mary was the 7th. child of 15 children (7 boys and 8 girls),(one child, Lillian died shortly after birth). Mary's parents, Jacob Willems and Lena Zimmerman lived in southern Russia at the Fuerstenland Colony in Sergejevka, Russia on the Dnieper River. This was a Russian Mennonite community that was immigrating to the United States because of persecution and was looking to find a better life and future for their families. The first part of the Jacob Willems' family's journey took them to Canada. Mary was born in Waldheim, Saskatchewen, Canada and was two years old when the family resumed the final leg of the journey to the Dinuba/Reedley area in October of 1919. They were a family with 10 children when they arrived by train to their destination in Reedley, Calif. Mary's father was in farming and would rent farmland and grow crops to support his family. The family never lived in any one place for long (a couple of years) before they were on the move again. Outside of living 6 years in the Madera area (farming wheat and living on a couple of dairies) the family lived in the Dinuba/ Reedley area. One of the places Mary loved living at the most was on the Kings River off of Rose Avenue. She told stories of how her brothers would take the

beds outside and made a bedroom with walls consisting of rows of sunflowers and tomato vines! The girls often slept 3 to a bed as most of the houses they lived in had only three bedrooms. One home in Madera was a small motel which had 6 bedrooms that gave them a little more space for a short time.

Mary's schooling included one year at Reedley High School and two years at Immanuel Academy; which she was able to attend by being a live-in caretaker for a sickly child of the chaplain. It was a nice trade-off for Mary to be able to attend Immanuel. She didn't finish her last year of high school as she then had to stay home to help with all the children and work at home.

Mary had many fond memories of her last family home on Academy Way. During the w11r, all seven girls + a sister-in-law with two children lived at home there with their parents. The girls all had jobs in Dinuba, all within a block of each other; Mary worked at the Safeway grocery store as a checker which she enjoyed. In the evenings the girls would gather around the piano and sing in close harmony all the popular songs of that time. By several different written accounts it h11s been noted that they sounded a lot like the Andrews Sisters who were very popular at that time. Mary along with her mother and sister Helen sang as a Christian music trio on the radio and even toured to different churches out of the area.

Another job Mary enjoyed was her employment at Sequoia Fields as a supply clerk during the war. This was a training base for pilots. After the war was over, one-by-one Mary and her siblings were getting married.

Mary married Leslie Ralph Davis on January 1, 1946 in the Reedley M.B.Church. Les was a plumber by trade from the Burbank area who had come to Dinuba for a job prospect. His new boss, Gordon Lamb of Lamb's Plumbing introduced them. That was the beginning of their courtship. Les purchased a 10 acre parcel NIE of Dinuba and the two of them built their family home which they loved and lived their entire 50 + years together. They wanted to provide their kids with a place to put down roots (one home); which was something that neither of them had growing up. The five Davis kids: Leslie Norman, Marilyn Sue, Mary Ann, Raymond and Carol Ann all went to the same three room country school, Smith Mountain School and all graduated from the same high school ( no getting uprooted every couple of years). Mary was a participant in the "Mother's Club" as It was called which provided the class rooms with "extras" which they otherwise wouldn't have been able to have. She also belonged to the community "Knitting Club" which was the beginning of Mary's long-lasting love of knitting. She took much pleasure in making afghans for her family and friends. This hobby lasted throughout her life. She also enjoyed sewing and making-over clothes. She sewed for her grandchildren when they were little.

Another specialty of Mary's were her pot roast dinners- which she made for special occasions; we all have fond memories of those dinners. We can remember that more than once, that Mary would have to improvise at the last minute for a dinner. As Les was the one to buy the groceries, he would sometimes just decide to get something totally different instead of what Mary ordered for her special company dinner which really called for the need to be able to improvise. Mary was always a gracious hostess.

After Les and Mary married, Mary stayed home to raise her family. She also helped at harvest time at whatever was planted on the farm at the time- from picking berries (very early marriage), to picking cotton to packing tree fruit right along with us kids. She also canned fruit and made jams and jellies with her sister Elizabeth. They would get together and make a BIG fun day of it. Mom would always speak in her low German dialect (Plautdietsch) whenever she didn't want the kids to know what they were talking about. She most often spoke to her mother In the dialect as Lena never learned to speak English very well and had a heavy German accent her whole life.

Les and Mary were long-time members of the Dinuba Grange (an agricultural fraternity) that worked state-wide to help farmers with Ag issues. Their favorite travel destination was Alaska, where Les's sister, Alice, (a long-time resident of Alaska) lived. They would go on fishing excursions to catch salmon. They also traveled to the mid-west where Les grew up several times, checking up on family history.

One thing that the family recalls with clarity is Mary's distinctive "dinner call"!! Whenever she wanted to call Les in from the field she had this" Tarzan yodel' she would belt out!! Never heard anything like that before or since (that was a one of a kind thing)I Another thing we remember is how Mary loved to play April Fool's Day pranks on Les; and he fell for it every time. One year she made him "cotton pancakes" for breakfast. She put cotton in the batter and cooked them up...they looked normal but were impossible to cut...he was really puzzled about that for a bit before he realized it was a prank. Mary had an easy sense of humor and liked to laugh.

Mary enjoyed the Christmas festivities and the last 15 years she treated her family to a special Christmas brunch, the week-end before Christmas, at Linda Penner's Reedley Country lnn...it was her way of showing her love for her family...to bring her whole family all together.

We already mentioned Mary's singing earlier but it would be remiss not to mention that Mary especially loved to sing in the church choir and faithfully sang in the Calvary Baptist Church choir for many, many years. She also helped out with GMG (Girls Missionary Guild) a couple of years.

About Mary's Christian faith and beliefs...she was in her teens when she accepted salvation...church has always been an integral part throughout her life. From her Mennonite upbringing to her years first at Calvary Baptist Church, to her final years at Dinuba First Baptist Church , she loved being in church. She rarely missed a service...and remained committed to going every Sunday morning and evening service + Wednesday Prayer meeting all the way up to the last two months of her life. A very special thanks to

Doris Thiessen, who so faithfully provided her transportation on Sunday and Wednesday nights to church. She so much enjoyed her time spent with you and your friendship.

Mary lived a full and happy life....97 years. She loved her home and her family and we her family would like to thank the many friends and friendships that so enriched Mary's life.

We'd like to thank Sierra View skilled nursing for providing mom with such loving care the two months she was there. There was comfort in knowing that she received the best of care there. We were so blessed by all the friends who stopped by to see her and a special thanks on Mom's behalf to two friends who looked in on her multiple times a day to brighten up her days....Pat Arnold and Jackie Muzzy...you give real meaning to the word ...Friendship...thank you so much for your loving friendship to our Mom.

Mary is also survived by her 10 grandchildren: Rachel Davis and Dillon Davis, Nick Nordahl and Natalie Nordahl, Derrick Azevedo and Ethan Azevedo, Cody Curtis , Mikenna Curtis and Kylee Curtis, and Jais Houge; and by Nita Davis, a daughter- in law, Neva Williams, a sister-in-law, and many nieces and nephews.