CONSTANCE CLARE DAVIES

DAVIES, CONSTANCE CLARE May 10, 1923 to March 18, 2012 Constance Clare Mitchell was born the sixth of seven children to Alberto and Nicolassa Mitchell, of Brooklyn, NY, who would precede their children in passing when Constance was but three years of age. The family was broken up, and along with her only brother, Albert, she was raised in several foster homes. Constance graduated from Bronx Vocational High School in 1942. Not only did she graduate with the office skills of typing, shorthand, and bookkeeping that would serve her well in her professional life, but also with a Machinist Class "B" License. So as a Rosie-the-Riveter, she was employed at the Brooklyn Naval Shipyards. At the end of World War II, she applied to a government service program and was shipped out west to an engineering project site in Jackson, CA. Gene Autry was her favorite singing cowboy and out west is where she longed to be. It was at this project that she would meet her first husband, Joe Oscar Ivy, the father of her two children, Marcella Louise Ivy (Minutella), and Joe Oscar Ivy, Jr. Shortly after the birth of her son, this young family was abandoned and Constance returned to her re-assembled family in the east until she had resources enough to return west and become established. Constance worked in private industry as a "Girl Friday", then tested and was accepted to the LAUSD. She worked in several High Schools, Middle Schools, Elementary Schools, and retired from Hillside Elementary School in 1985. She met her second husband, Arthur Gerald Davies (2-1924 to 2-2005) in an Auto Mechanics class at night school in 1961. They married in 1966, and after retiring, they moved to Lemon Grove, CA in 1988. Constance believed in community service as strongly as she believed in education. She was a Cub Scout Den Mother, a Scholarship Awards Advisor, a Senior Walk-a-Thon entrant, and Women's Health Initiative (WHI) participant for 20 years; donor to many local charities; and the true definition of neighbor to all those within her sphere. No matter the good or the ill that fate would interject, she would never give up, she would never give in. She always kept on giving and celebrated living. Constance has now joined her parents and siblings Lucy, Clara, Florence, and Albert. She is survived by sisters Inez (97) and Alice (93); her daughter Marcella, and son Joe, her grandson Devlin and her many nieces and nephews.