Stanley Wallace Davis...Age 93

VISITATION: 1-2 PM SUNDAY, JULY 6, 2014

SERVICE: 2 PM SUNDAY, JULY 6, 2014

ALL SERVICES AT FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF OSAWATOMIE

WELDA CEMETERY, WELDA, KANSAS

MEMORIAL: SERENITY HOSPICE

Memorials may be sent in care of Eddy-Birchard Funeral Home
P.O. Box 430
Osawatomie, Kansas 66064

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Stanley Wallace Davis, age 93, formerly of Osawatomie, Kansas died Tuesday, July 1, 2014 at Harmony Gardens Assisted Living in Warrensburg, Missouri.

Stanley was born on April 23, 1921 in Williamsburg, Kansas, the second of six children to Frank and Ruth (Hume) Davis. He grew up on the family farm in rural Williamsburg and graduated from Williamsburg High School in the class of 1938.

He married Ruth Hiatt on December 14, 1947 in Williamsburg. They made their home in Ottawa, Kansas where Stanley was a mechanic at the John Deere dealership. They became the parents of three children, Kathy, Mark and Carol.

In 1955 the family moved to Osawatomie where Stanley was a salesman for the John Deere dealership. In 1960, he and Lynn Baumann purchased the dealership which became Baumann­ Davis Implement Company. After retirement, he and Lynn remained lifelong friends, having coffee at Meek's Drug Store every morning.

Stanley was well-known throughout eastern Kansas for his honesty and integrity. He loved selling "the best farm equipment made" and valued his customers and the service he provided above all else. He could diagnose a mechanical problem over the phone and often went back to the store late at night to retrieve a part for a customer. His exceptional memory allowed him to retain hundreds of parts numbers, serial numbers, and telephone numbers and just recently, calculate the circumference of a circle in seconds without pen or paper.

He loved to tinker with lawnmowers or household appliances and taught his children and grandchildren the skills and rewards of knowing how to fix things for themselves. As a child of the Depression he repaired and reused, but rarely threw anything away. His motto was "Let's keep that, we may need it someday."

Family was, however, Stanley's first love and greatest legacy. He and Ruth loved and cared for their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren above all else. He was a great storyteller and loved to tell stories of the people he'd known and things he'd done. Listening to his stories was not quick, but it was worth the time! Stanley lived from the era before cars to learning to email, always saying "A day is wasted if you don't learn something new." He loved to read and learn all of his life.

He had been a member of the First Baptist Church in Osawatomie, Paola and Topeka where he had served as a Deacon, a Sunday school teacher and a Baptist Youth Fellowship sponsor over the years. His strong faith and character was evident to all who knew him and he always wanted others to see Jesus in him. He was also a sixty year member of the Osage Valley Lodge#224 in Williamsburg.

Stanley was preceded in death by his wife of 64 years, Ruth, his parents, and two brothers: Frank Jr. (F.W.) and Richard Davis.

He is survived by his three children: Mark (Linda) of Liberty, MO., Kathy (LeRoy) DuBois of Topeka, Ks. And Carol (Jim) Graham of Warrensburg, Mo. One sister, Eloise Epperson of Kansas
City, Ks. and two brothers, Wendell Davis of Williamsburg, KS. and Merle Davis of Topeka, Ks, eleven grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren and many other family and friends.