Oliver Warren, (O.W.) Pete Davis, 98, passed from this life into the arms of God on Tuesday, April 13th, 2021. He is survived by his beautiful wife of 78 years, Lorine Penrod Davis. Pete was born September 22, 1922 and raised in Randolph County, Arkansas. Pete was the 6th of 7 children born to William McKinley Davis and Martha (Mattie) Susan Rushing Davis.
Pete and his childhood friend, both barely 19, volunteered to serve in the Army-Air Corp the day after Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7th, 1941. He met his wife, Lorine, while stationed in Coffeyville, Kansas in 1942. Due to a training incident at Vance Air Force Base in Enid, Oklahoma, Pete was blinded in his left eye, preventing him from being shipped overseas. The army soon made him a cook! Once Pete received his disability discharge from the Army-Air Corp in 1945, he and Lorine moved to Amarillo, Texas. That’s when the family grew to three daughters, Sandra Hildebrandt-Tomlin, Jan Simon, and Diana Kaelin. Pete could always envision another way to do things and moved the family to Enid, Oklahoma as an entrepreneur in the late 1950’s. He soon became owner of a full-service Phillips 66 Service Station; that’s was when an attendant filled your tank for 19 cents a gallon, cleaned your windshield and checked your tires! He sponsored stock car and drag races and introduced all that excitement to his daughters and his nephew, Larry. Pete was a man of many trades; farmed the land, hunted, fished and camped, was an excellent car mechanic, salesman, did his own marketing, organized fund-raisers, carpenter, electrician, the ultimate handy man and always organized. In 1973 Pete, Lorine, and Diana moved from Enid to Oklahoma City. When relocating his sales region to the Dallas, Texas area in 1980 they bought enough land to grow his garden and raise chickens, goats, turkeys, cows, pigs, emus, and of course he had a tractor!
Pete was a devoted member of the church, serving many roles including mission work with Lorine in their RV to help build churches and remodel Christian universities along with a Christian group for many years. He could never be still for long, so when he wasn’t working or RV’ing, he was on his tractor, tending to his large garden and/or raising farm animals or helping others.
Pete is survived by two of his three daughters, five of his six grandchildren, fourteen great-grandchildren, eight great-great grandchildren, and countless friends.
Visitation will be held from 6-8pm on Friday, April 23, 2021 at Anderson-Clayton-Gonzalez Funeral Home (1111 Military Parkway, Mesquite, TX 75149). Funeral Services will be held at the Christian Center of Mesquite (4401 E. Cartwright Rd, Mesquite, TX 75181) on Saturday, April 24, 2021 at 11am. He will be buried at DFW National Cemetery in Arlington, TX on Tuesday, April 27th. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial donations be made to the Disabled American Veterans or the Christian Center of Mesquite in his name.
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