Karen Patricia Davis

How do you describe the one woman who means everything to you? The glue that holds you together? The most amazing person you've been fortunate to know?

Family was always first. Growing up, she and her siblings were always surrounded by family. The many aunts and uncles and cousins were always getting together for holidays, birthdays, and even for no reason at all. Then there's the five of us. She often said her biggest accomplishment was having five kids. While it was not always easy growing up as one of five, and it could be confusing too, since Mom would constantly call us by one of the others' names, Mom was always so proud of every one of us. Now her pride and joy are her grandchildren: Ryan, Brianna, Michael, Kelsey, Steven, and Eleanor. (Funny how the kids fall to the back of the priority list when the grandkids arrive.) We were in Michigan when Aimee told Mom and Dad they were going to be grandparents for the first time, and she squealed with joy at the news. When Brianna was born, she went running out of the delivery room, radiating joy and excitement as she announced it was a girl. When Michael came along, she was the first one there to hold him. She took care of Brianna during an ice storm with no power when Kelsey was born, and she watched over Ryan and Michael when Steven came. Eleanor holds a special place in that she was the first grandchild born after Dad passed away, and Eleanor’s birth was an event of hope to look forward to and focus on as Mom underwent her initial rounds of chemotherapy. She is so very proud of her grandchildren and we know she will continue to watch over them as they grow up.

She loved to shop. She had a knack for finding the highest quality at the best price. She liked nothing better than to spend the day going from one store to another just looking. The thrill for her was just being on the hunt for a good bargain and spending time with the people she cared about. She’d go out at 5 am on Black Friday, spend the day at the mall or going to multiple shopping centers, or hit the yard sales on the weekends. She was happy if she found a great bargain, but she was also happy if she didn’t buy anything and simply came back with a story to share about an outrageous price for something, or seeing the most ridiculous piece of furniture ever, or complaining about that person in front of her who took the last two place settings she wanted at the Pfaltzgraf tent sale. While she did do some online shopping (which was an accomplishment given her and computers never really got along), shopping by computer never gave her the same level of enjoyment as going out and finding the deal.

She loved to travel. While she was growing up, there were countless trips up north and family vacations to places across the country. When we were little, there was the cottage for the summers and every other year the trip to Disney World. While Dad had to work in England for a year, Mom and Dad traveled extensively through England, Ireland, Scotland, France, and Belgium. Once they were living back in the United States again, Mom and Dad continued to travel internationally. Even though Mom was scared of flying, she racked up hundreds of thousands of miles going to places such as Germany, Sweden, Denmark, The Netherlands, Japan, and Korea. When any of us have had to travel for work, she was always the first to offer to come along, joining us on business trips to New York, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Las Vegas, Puerto Rico, Tucson, California, the list goes on.

She loved Christmas. Christmas was always the best time of year for us. Mom had a Christmas tree in every room in the house. There was the sheep tree in the dining room (that was Dad's), the real tree in the family room, the artificial tree in the library, and smaller trees in every other room. She has massive ceramic village displays, Santa's and other Christmas decorations everywhere, Christmas dishes, you name it. And of course, there were the presents. You have never seen Christmas presents until you've seen the family room and library at the Davis house on Christmas morning. She shopped continuously throughout the year, and was almost always finished with her Christmas shopping by Thanksgiving. Since there were 5 of us, her way to stay organized was to use a different wrapping paper for each of us. That trend continued as the family expanded to include three sons-in-laws and six grandchildren (you do the math on how much wrapping paper was needed).

She was extremely creative. She owned her own flower shop in Ann Arbor (two of them actually, the first in Manchester and the second in Ann Arbor), and when we moved to Maryland, she sold them and went to work at Bialzak's, which is where she met her very close friends—Lois, Jean, John, Anna, Nancy, Sherry, Patty--the flower group. She always had so much fun with each of you and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for being there for her, especially these past three years. Over the last decade or so, Mom became a heavy duty scrapbooker and she created some amazing albums. We've gone to many scrapbooking weekends, shows, etc. She also enjoyed sewing. When we were little, she would make all of our Halloween costumes. She also would sew clothes for us. When Aimee just had to have a teal dress for her senior prom but the only teal dress they could find was four or five sizes too big, she basically remade the entire dress. She has helped each of us decorate our homes, providing ideas, making curtains or pillows, painting, wallpapering, you name it, and she had done it.

She handled adversity with strength, grace, and a positive outlook. There were many difficult years growing up, but no matter how she might have felt at the time, she never communicated to us any anger, bitterness, or fear, but instead let us grow up knowing that strength and hard work could get you through even the toughest of times. Looking back after we had become adults, we asked her how she and Dad managed, when they both worked full time and they had all of us, and times were rough. Money was often tight, and there were many months where the choice was to pay the bills or buy food. She always replied that it was the life they knew and you do what you have to do to make it through. And once you’ve made it through the bad times, the good times are treasured so much more.

There are so many ways to describe our mom and how much she means to us. Her strength, her wisdom, her sense of family, her humor, it is an endless list. The disease she courageously battled for such a long time may have claimed her body, but she will continue to live on in each of us and her grandchildren. So, Mom, we want to say thank you for being our mom and always being there for us. The void you are leaving is bottomless. We already miss you more than we can say.

We love you Mom.

Michelle, Renee, Aimee, Matthew, and Brian

The Death Notice from the Baltimore Sun:

On January 9, 2011 Karen Patricia Davis (nee Michelson) of Cockeysville; dear wife of the late Allen Davis; loving mother of Michelle Hobbs and her husband Alan, Renee Brown and her husband Chris, Aimee Anton and her husband Alvin, Matthew and Brian Davis; beloved daughter of Norman and Caroline Michelson; devoted sister of Larry Michelson and Terry Thomas; cherished grandmother of Ryan, Brianna, Michael, Kelsey, Steven and Eleanor.

The family will receive friends in the Lemmon Funeral Home of Dulaney Valley, Inc., 10 W. Padonia Road (at York Road) Timonium, MD 21093 on Thursday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 PM. A Service of Remembrance will be celebrated in the funeral home on Friday, January 14 at 11 AM. Interment in Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens. In lieu of flowers, expressions of sympathy may be directed in Karen's name to the Susan G Komen 3 Day at http://www.the3day.org/goto/AimeeAnton.