Obituary of Joan Kay Davis

Joan Kay Davis, 73, of Portland Oregon died peacefully with her family at her side on July 15th, 2011, of complications from rheumatoid arthritis. She was born Joan Kelly on February 13th, 1938, in Wendell, Idaho. She was raised in McCall, Idaho, and Portland and Ontario, Oregon. She graduated from Ontario High School in 1956. Joan married Delbert Davis in 1957 and began work at Tektronix building circuit boards. She worked there until 1961 and then stayed home to raise their two daughters. Joan was an avid artist and craftswoman who never met a medium she didn’t like – from wreath making, pottery, sewing and knitting to her lifelong love of ceramics. The only thing she loved nearly as much as her family and art was chocolate. She was an excellent cook and treated her family to authentic international recipes, many of which she got from co-workers at Tek. You never knew what corner of the world you’d be eating from – it could be Scotch eggs, Mexican tamales or Vietnamese cha gio spring rolls. She enjoyed teaching these skills to both her daughters, as well as to their friends while leading a Camp Fire group. In 1974 she went back to work at Tek, and then stayed with her division when it became Credence, working as a prototype engineer. She was smart and dedicated and gained the respect of the co-workers and the engineers her work supported. During these years, Joan and Del traveled extensively, seeing Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Bali, Mexico, Morocco and many countries in Europe. She retired in 2001 and in 2002 became the part-time nanny to her only grandchild, Sam. She is survived by her husband, Del, her daughters Carrie Davis and Marnie Bennett, their husbands Pat Cassiday and Mark Bennett and grandson Sam Bennett, all of Portland, and sister Jean Kelly of Denia, Spain. She will be missed every day for her love, generosity, sense of humor and the way she could tell a story. A gathering is planned on August 14st at 2pm. For details and the location contact Marnie at havenglow@comcast.net.