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Mitchell Harley Davis
Mitchell Harley Davis
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Mitchell Davis Obituary
Nov. 5, 1947 - Oct. 6, 2011
Resident of Santa Cruz
Mitchell died on October 6, 2011 from brain trauma injuries due to a motorcycle accident. He is survived by his daughters, Inga Davis, Sheri Esguerra, and son, Stuart Davis, as well as their families, his father, Robert Harley Davis and his brother Robert Marshall Davis. He had five grandchildren: Jayson, Joey, Abraham, Eva and Andrzej.
Mitchell, aka, Grampa Harley, was adored by his family and friends. He kept many friends from as early as elementary school, junior high, and high school. He was also loved in his adopted hometown of Santa Cruz which he called paradise. He was well known at "The Lane", the west side New Leaf, Gilda's and in his neighborhood.
Mitch was an incredible father, grandfather, son, brother and friend. Everyone has a great story about him, a great memory, or a great lesson learned. He was generous, vivacious and lived life to the absolute fullest every day. He surfed, rode a Harley, sailed, flew his Cessa 150 aerobatic plane, snow skied, and water skied. He also loved to dance, listen to music, play guitar, harmonica, and just listen and tell stories with people. He could make friends with anyone and often did.
To many friends he was known as "Sheet Metal Mitch." He worked for Ford Aerospace, then Loral Space Systems, in Palo Alto for 25 years in the sheet metal shop.
Family and friends are gathering on Saturday, October 8 at his house in Santa Cruz to celebrate the gift that was his life.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Donald ("Rusty") Baker
March 29, 2021
I'm so sorry to hear that Mitch passed away. I just found out about while thinking of people I used to work with at Ford Aerospace / Space System/Loral. Mitch worked in the sheetmetal shop when I did part marking. I got to know him better when I learned manual engraving. After our shop moved to another building (Bldg. 12), he was my lead man for awhile. I went to a private school for architectural drafting. He saw my interest in that and recommended that I learn how to do the computerized engraving, which was great to learn. Later, after a layoff, he took on the computerized engraving and I got to help him a couple of times with engraving layout problems. He played his guitar at work during lunch then I played the piano with him on his guitar at my apartment in San Jose. His favorite song on the guitar was "Hey, you. Get Off of My Cloud". I went with him once to the little airport in Palo Alto to see his plane. I took a trip with him to Santa Cruz to check out the damage after the 1989 earthquake. He'd gone surfing a lot there and eventually moved there. I met him at his place in Sunnyvale then we went over together. He had a big VCR camera, which I borrowed to film the inside of my grandmother's house in Santa Clara. I'd lived there for 5 yrs. while she was in a convalescent hospital. After she passed away in 1997, I borrowed his camera to film the inside of her house (she lived there since 1955) and the remodeling of it while I was moving out. I got laid off in 2002 and didn't get to say good-bye to him since I had to get my tools and things then get escorted out. This was so sad and shocking to hear about him, especially after several years have passed by but I'm glad to find out that he went out of this life doing one of his many fun, adventurous things in life, which he loved so much.
jeff miser
October 10, 2011
miss you buddy :) i know i didnt really new you that long but everytime i saw you, you always put a smile on my face! you where very loved by all and will be missed very much. you always have a spot in my hart :) love the miser family
Michael Quail
October 10, 2011
I will cherish the memories forever.
Our hearts go out to your loved ones at this time and in the days ahead.
Aryeh
October 9, 2011
Will miss you too much for words to describe. You were one of my life heroes.
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Samantha Brown
October 8, 2011
I will never forget you PopPop :) You will always be in my heart! Now you can keep dad company up there.. Don't get into too much trouble! Love you!
barry witcher
October 8, 2011
mitch, you will always be my idol, i miss you man.
Gregg Davidson
October 8, 2011
My condolences to all of Mitch's loved ones. Mitch and I had many flying adventures together and shared many good memories. He will be missed.
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