John William "Bill" Davis

John William Davis was born on April 18, 1923, in Mason City Iowa, to Elmer and Sylvia Davis. 'Billy' was delivered into this world by his grandmother in her house. He was the third child, preceded by a brother and a sister. When Bill was three years old, his father, finding work scarce in his trade of bookbinding, relocated the family to Los Angeles, California.



While attending Manual Arts High School, Bill was Sports Editor of their daily newspaper and a star pole vaulter. After graduation in 1941, he attended Los Angeles City College until he decided to take the United States Air Force qualifying examination for pilot training. He passed and became a pilot in the United States Army Air Forces, the immediate predecessor to the US Air Force.



In May of 1944, he was assigned to overseas duty in the 328th Ferry Command stationed in Tunis, North Africa. He flew fighter aircraft (P-5ls, P-38s, P-47s and B-25s) over the Mediterranean Sea to bases located in Italy and France. He would occasionally return to Tunis with war-weary aircraft (P-40s and P-39s). When the war in Europe ended, he was stationed in Naples, Italy. While awaiting orders for his transfer to the Pacific Theater, the United States dropped the atomic bombs which forced the surrender of Japan. Bill was then assigned to the Army of Occupation in Germany, stationed in Weisbaden, Germany, until December, 1945.



Bill went to work in the insurance industry upon his return from the war. In time he chose to further his education. He worked by day and attended Law School at night. While yet in law school, Bill applied for a position at Republic Federal Savings and Loan Association. He was hired by Republic in 1950 and served as President from 1961 until he retired in 1984. Republic subsequently merged with Washington Mutual Savings. During employment at Republic, Bill was extremely active other than working. In 1958, he was elected to the city council of the City of Pico Rivera. He served two terms, including two as Mayor (1960 and 1963), and retired in 1964. He was voted Junior Chamber of Commerce Young Man of the Year in 1960.



Bill's business career and some of his other activities included serving on the Board of Directors of Continental Land Title Company in Los Angeles and Lawyers Title Company of Richmond, Virginia; President of the California Contract Cities; President of Pico Rivera Public Facilities Commission; President of the Conference of Federal Savings and Loan Associations, which included all Federal Savings and Loans in California; member of the Board of Directors of California Savings and Loans League and member of their Legislative committee, which included all state and federal savings and loan associations.



In addition, Bill taught Savings and Loan Management and Real Estate Appraisal courses at the University of Southern California and at Woodbury College; was President of Los Angeles Downtown Optimist club; was Moderator of Rivera Baptist church; taught Sunday school classes from first grade through high school; served as Chairman of the Vaqueros Boy Scout Council and Secretary of Whittier Area Boy Scout Council; was President of Hacienda Golf Club and Captain of the Saturday golf team; and was President of the OCSGA August Group (1995-96).



Bill passed away on Thursday, April 13, 2017, in Whittier, California, just 5 days short of his 94th birthday.



From his marriage to Pauline (Tetro) Davis, Bill was blessed with and is survived by four wonderful children, Candace (Bill) Pool, Johnny (Susan) Davis, Nancy (Tim) Twomey and Sylvia Urbaniec; eleven grandchildren, Cole (Kristen) Ramsey, Josh (Thu) Ramsey, John (Natalie) Davis, Nick (Alisha) Davis, Kimberly (Adrian) Castro, Ryan (Nikki) Twomey, Colin (Doris) Twomey, Kevin Twomey, Dustin Urbaniec, Nicole (Alex) Rodriguez, and Jason (Julie) Urbaniec; and eight great-grandchildren, Emily and Ethan Ramsey, Kieran Davis, Audrey, Zachary, and Caitlin Castro, and Isabella and Hayden Rodriguez.



With his wife, Susan (Kramer) Davis, Bill was blessed with and is survived by two sons, Thomas (Alexis) and Paul (Eshwari) Davis; and four grandchildren, Carter, River, Avalon, and Nathan Davis.



Bill will be remembered as a loving husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, and a genuinely nice guy. He was a sports fanatic his entire life, preferring to watch any sporting event (golf, football, baseball, soccer, gymnastics, ice skating and even, on occasion, bowling) on television instead of other programs because he loved the competitiveness of sports. Indeed, Bill was a fierce competitor in anything he undertook, regardless of the endeavor. An avid, life-long golfer and active member of Hacienda Golf Club for more than forty years, Bill was very proud of his 4 holes-in-one at Hacienda. Bill loved to travel, especially if it included golf. He loved his trip to Singapore, Thailand and India for Paul's and Eshwari's wedding and the annual Las Vegas trips with Thomas, Alexis and their family. Bill was deeply loved and is greatly missed!



A Celebration of Life will be held at 2:30pm on Tuesday, April 25, 2017, at Saddleback Church Anaheim in Anaheim, California. Private interment will take place at Riverside National Cemetery in Riverside, California, with Military Honors.



Note: Portions of this text were written by Bob Hubbert and originally published in the OCSGA Newsletter, Swing of Things.