John Ed Davenport

Loving and loyal husband, father, friend, and Statesman John Edwin Davenport passed away on July 24, 2024, in Raleigh, North Carolina. John Ed was born on April 28, 1928, to the late Louis Ludford Davenport, Sr. and Bybe Rogers Davenport of Nashville, North Carolina. He married the love of his life, Mary Lib Pope of Mount Olive, North Carolina, on October 10, 1959, and they enjoyed over 60 happy years of marriage, until Mary Lib’s passing on July 1, 2020.

John Ed is survived by daughters, Elizabeth D. Scott (and husband, Robert A. Scott), Wynn D. Pickett (and husband, Donald E. Pickett); three treasured grandchildren, Adderson Scott, Grace Pickett, and Catherine Pickett; and a number of cherished nieces and nephews.

He was also preceded in death by his sister, Bybe Davenport Dowdy, his brother, Louis L. Davenport, Jr., and sister-in-law, Daisy P. Davenport.

John Ed graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1948 and from UNC School of Law in 1951. After retiring from active service as a Captain in the United States Air Force, he joined his father’s law practice in Nashville, North Carolina and spent most of his distinguished legal career in Nashville until he retired in 2007, at the age of 78. He was inducted into the North Carolina Bar Association General Practice Hall of Fame shortly before his retirement.

John Ed served the State of North Carolina, his profession, and community for over 50 years. As a legislator, John Ed represented Nash, Edgecombe and Wilson Counties in the North Carolina General Assembly from 1973 until 1979. During his legislative years, Ed chaired the Judiciary Committee, vice-chaired the Base Budget Committee, and was ranked as one of the ten most effective North Carolina legislators during that time. He thereafter served on the University of North Carolina Board of Governors from 1979 to 1985, and on the North Carolina General Statutes Commission from 1994 to 1996.

Ed served as President of the Nashville Jaycees, Director of the Rocky Mount Area Chamber of Commerce, President of the Nashville Industrial Development Corporation, and in various leadership positions in his local bar association. John Ed also was an active member of the Nashville United Methodist Church and served as Administrative Board Chairman on multiple occasions, and for many years as a District Trustee of the Rocky Mount District of the Methodist Church.

Ed was a true Southern gentleman. He loved to tell stories, had a great sense of humor, and always enjoyed a good joke and a game of bridge. Ed and Mary Lib enjoyed many happy times at the beach and travelling with friends and family. They shared an active and vibrant social life with many treasured friends throughout North Carolina, many of whom they met through Ed’s memberships in The Assembly, the Sphinx Club, the Coral Bay Club, and the Carolina Country Club.

The family sincerely thanks the Davenports’ long-time caregivers Cecilia and Virginia Mucugu for their many years of dedicated service.

A Service of Witness to the Resurrection will be held at White Memorial Presbyterian Church at eleven o’clock on Tuesday, July 30, 2024. The family will receive friends in the Jane Bell Gathering Space immediately following the service.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to White Memorial Presbyterian Church, www.whitememorial.org or StepUp Ministry, www.stepupministry.org.

Service arrangements by Brown-Wynne, 300 Saint Mary's St., Raleigh, NC.