BANGOR – Phyllis C. Davis died Sept. 1, 2007, at her home. Phyllis was born Feb. 23, 1927, the daughter of Walter W. and Nellie B. Clark, and she was raised by her three brothers in North Attleboro, Mass. She is lovingly remembered for her devotion to her four children, and her family is grateful that she was able to enjoy the company of her children and grandchildren during the last months of her life. Phyllis was especially close to her paternal grandmother, whom she visited at the house on the north end of Damariscotta Lake, Jefferson. In 1948, Phyllis was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry at the University of New Hampshire. She worked as a chemist at Johnson & Johnson Co., laboratories in New Brunswick, New Jersey and later at the Ames Laboratory at Iowa State College. She married her college sweetheart, Rodney J. Davis, Sept. 3, 1949. They began their life together in Iowa, where Rodney completed his graduate degrees, and their first two children were born. For 19 years, they lived in Oak Ridge, Tenn., site of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. They were some of the happiest years of their life together, when their family was young. They built a house on a hill overlooking the town, and they finished the interiors and the landscaping with their own hands. Phyllis had an eye for beauty and was skilled in fine crafts, particularly with fabric. She made richly textured home furnishings and elaborate holiday decorations that delighted her children. When she was young, she painted pictures that her family still treasures. She was proud of her four children, each of whom earned degrees and established a family and a career. For 31 years, Phyllis and Rodney lived in Montgomery Village, Md., near the Department of Energy, outside Washington, D.C. For a time, Phyllis served with much enthusiasm as a docent at the Smithsonian. In later years, Phyllis and Rodney traveled across the country many times, visiting children and grandchildren along the way, in a van with an interior they had designed and crafted to provide their sleeping accommodations. In 2005, Phyllis and Rodney retired to Maine, to reconnect with their roots in New England. Phyllis is survived by her husband, Rodney; her brothers, Walter B. Clark of Waterford, Conn., and Robert Clark of North Attleboro, Mass.; daughter, Melanie Davis and her husband, William Shackleford; son, Hunter Davis and his wife, Jeanne; daughter, Melissa Fogelstrom and her husband, Robert Fogelstrom; son, Hugh Davis and his wife, Betz Berhard; and five grandchildren, Benjamin and Anne Schackeford, Clinton and Maxwell Reddie and Katherine Davis. Phyllis was predeceased by her brother, Selden Clark, last year. A memorial service for Phyllis is being planned for a later time. A service of Brookings-Smith, 133 Center St., Bangor.
PHYLLIS CLARK DAVIS
