Obituary: Leonora Davis

The day she turned 21, she left college and volunteered for the Navy to help in the war efforts. This began a lifetime of service and volunteer efforts to help others. She was stationed across the country in San Francisco, assisting the men as they returned from fighting in the Pacific. It was here that she met her first and only husband, Marine Sargent Leonard Davis.

They settled in Oakland, Calif., raising a family with three children, Lance, Linda, and Laird. Lee was active in local charity and fashion events. She divorced in 1966. Her oldest son Lance volunteered for the Vietnam War, and she moved east to New Jersey with her other children.

Lee took a job as a hospital administrator, where she worked for 25 years. She was responsible for patient relations and scheduling of nurses and support staff. She excelled at her job and retired at the age of 65. She worked a second job to pay for a tennis coach for her youngest son. She was an avid card player (bridge, pinochle) and bowled in leagues.

But she didn’t really retire; she kept busy with volunteer work. She served in the field with the Red Cross, traveling all over the country to assist people in crisis and need. She traveled to California when earthquakes struck, hurricanes in Alabama, Texas, Louisiana, floods in Missouri, multiple times to Florida, and even Oregon to help with the Biscuit fire. She was forced to retire from field work at the age of 78 when she fainted from exhaustion while carrying a 20-gallon pot of soup in the New Orleans shelter.

But that didn’t stop her from helping others. After moving to Hood River, Ore., in 2000, she helped the local Red Cross with blood drives. She took a course in Braille translation and over a 10 year period, she translated dozens of textbooks into Braille to help blind students. She spent three hours a day hunched over a keyboard meticulously typing the Braille characters with a special keyboard.

Lee was the poster child for the Greatest Generation, raised in the Depression, called to serve in wars, raising a family, and always looking to help others. When you asked her about herself or her accomplishments, she quickly changed the subject to ask about you.

She was preceded in death by her younger siblings, Phyllis and Harris, and by her oldest son, Lance. Her surviving family in Oregon is eternally grateful for the care and help she received from the professionals at Heart of Hospice and Parkhurst Senior Living in Hood River.