WILLIAM NEWELL DAVIS

William Newell Davis, Jr., age 97, passed away on Wednesday, September 26, 2012. Bill was born January 29, 1915, in Kingsburg, Ca. to William Newell Davis and Elizabeth Glenn Davis and grew up in Dinuba, Ca. He graduated from Fresno State College in 1936. He met Ruth Maudlin at the Huntington Lake Sierra Summer School session. They were married for 59 years. They returned often over the years for family camping trips. After receiving a Masters degree in history from University of California, Berkeley in 1938, he taught high school in Bieber, Ca. for two years. He returned and received his PhD in History in 1942. During WWII he was based in the South Pacific, serving in the United States Army Air Corps Intelligence division. He visited Hiroshima a month and a day after the bomb dropped. Captain Davis's diary from these years is now in the California State Library in Sacramento. After the war, he served on the faculties of San Francisco Junior College, University of Missouri, and UC Berkeley before becoming Historian of the California State Archives in 1955, and Chief of Archives from 1966-1980. He passed the California State Bar exam in 1968. He was a member and officer of many state and national historical societies and organizations, and wrote a book, Sagebrush Corner: the Opening of California's Northwest, along with numerous articles in various historical journals. He was an active member of Carmichael Presbyterian Church, serving as deacon and elder. He set up an archival system to preserve the church's historical records and was honored with the title, Historian Emeritus. Bill's great delight was tending his vegetable garden and the many fruit and nut trees on his rural Sacramento property. Avid travelers, Bill and Ruth took 36 overseas trips from which they enjoyed collecting souvenirs to display on their wall and memories to share in their Christmas letters. After Ruth's passing, Bill moved to the Terraces at San Joaquin Gardens in Fresno to be closer to family. He was predeceased by his wife Ruth; and his three sisters, Mary Grace McPhaill, Barbara Craig, and Anita Cargile. He is survived by his sister, Louise Hendricks of Carlsbad, Ca.; his three daughters, Carol Avol and husband Richard of Washburn, Wi., Ann Masini and husband Michael, and Jane Maldonado and husband Robert of Fresno; four grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews. A Private Service at a future date will be held at the Pioneer Grove Sacramento City Cemetery. Remembrances can be made to San Joaquin Gardens Foundation, 5555 N. Fresno St., Fresno, Ca. 93710