- A Giving Loss
- New Castle,
Delaware
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- In 1979, Lizette Davis lost
her husband of nearly 50 years. The following year she
turned the heavy negative into a positive, starting a
scholarship fund in his name. "I couldn't see myself
sitting around pining when I could do so much in the
community to help others," she says.
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- William F.
"Stoney" Davis Sr. was a Supreme Court chief
bailiff... Delaware's first black bailiff... when he died
of a heart attack in the aftermath of a courtroom
struggle. Keeping peace at court had been a second
career; before that he was a Wilmington beat patrolman
for 21 years.
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- "And after he
died I thought, 'What can I do ? What can I do ?' And I
decided to start the scholarship," says his 78-year
old widow. Davis raises scholarship money through Mount
Joy United Methodist Church, two blocks from her South
Heald Street home and next to a converted lot with a sign
that reads: "William F. 'Stoney' Davis Sr. Memorial
Park". To date 130 high-school students have
received a total of $42,000.
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- "When we first
started only blacks applied, but now we've had just about
every nationality that I think there is, which makes me
feel good," says Davis, who worked 38 years for the
Marjorie Speakman children's clothing store in
Greenville.
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- A lifetime member of
Mount Joy, Davis has also been busy since early last year
in a crusade to beautify the church. She has seen to it
that walls were painted, carpeting and drapes installed,
furniture upholstered, new pews put in.
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- The beautification
program suffered a setback several months ago when
burglars came in through a stained-glass window.
"They took everything they thought they could
sell," Davis says. "They even stole the clocks
off the walls." One of the things thieves took was a
pair of speakers that her husband had given the church.
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- "What I'm
working on now is replacing them," she says.
"It's going to take $5,800. And when I get that
done, I'm going to retire. You see, I've had open-heart
surgery and I've had a lot of sickness in the last couple
years, and I can't do the work I used to do."
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- Does she consider
herself a hero for the work she's done ?
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- "A hero ? No way
! I just consider myself an average person working to
build God's kingdom. I love doing for others."
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- Edward L. Kenny
- Copyright 1992 The
News Journal, Wilmington, DE
- Posted for Non-Profit
Educational Use under the provisions of the "Fair
Use" Clause.
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