Elizabeth Davis

1979 - 2025

Elizabeth Davis

February 15, 1979 - August 28, 2025

Elizabeth "Liz" Erin Davis passed away unexpectedly at her home in Lincoln, Neb. on August 28, 2025, from a seizure.

A celebration of life will take place Saturday, September 6 at 10 a.m. at Trinity United Methodist Church, 511 N. Elm St., Grand Island, Neb. Visitation will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on September 5 at All Faiths Funeral Home, 2929 S. Locust St., Grand Island.

Liz was born on February 15, 1979, to Jan and Lonnie Davis in Grand Island. She graduated from Grand Island Senior High in 1997 where she was a cheerleader, flag corps member, and served on the student council.

After graduating with honors from the College of Education at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Liz set out on a twenty-year transcontinental mission as an elementary and middle school teacher. Over the course of her teaching career, Liz taught students in six schools in Charleston, S.C., Los Angeles, Calif., and Lincoln, starting her career as a student teacher at Elliott Elementary in Lincoln in a multi-national classroom with children speaking in five different languages. Despite the tremendous challenges of teaching in such a complex environment, Liz was hooked. No challenge in education was too big or hard.

She later earned a master's degree in education from California State University – Northridge and spent more than 10 years teaching science at Chime Institute, an inclusive school in southern California, where she thrived in building a safe and welcoming classroom for children of all abilities. She subsequently taught at the prestigious Geffen Academy at the University of California-Los Angeles and returned to Lincoln Public Schools in 2021.

Liz thought of each of her students as one of her own children and she had a gift for helping children find their spark, particularly in the sciences. She challenged all students to invest in themselves to reach their full potential, regardless of barriers in their lives. Science experiment days in Liz's classrooms became famous for students leading big, bold experiments that pushed their abilities and tested the school's smoke alarm systems, with lots of laughter along the way.

Liz loved her friends and family and maintained long-term friendships throughout her life with friends across the country. In many cases, she supported old friends through terminal illness, relationship turmoil, and career changes, as she emphatically advocated for friends to see the best in themselves, typically underlining her point with a treasure trove of profane "Lizism's."

Her infectious laugh, genuine empathy for others, and self-deprecating humor endeared her to people in all walks of life, from celebrities to the unhoused looking for someone with whom to visit.

She had incredible taste in music and loved attending concerts. Liz maintained many hobbies including jewelry making, gardening, painting, and curated an epic collection of knick knacks, including gnomes, fairies, mice, and felt thing-a-ma-jiggers. In recent years, she found great joy in searching for and dressing her cat Maxwell in ridiculous outfits and recently was thrilled to shoot a gun for the first time.

She loved trips to Palm Springs with her girlfriends, most recently spending a week there with her besties in July. Her most beloved experiences took place in the summers with her family, friends, and cherished nieces and nephews floating down Pine Creek in Long Pine, Neb. In August, she returned to Long Pine for 'Tubathon 2025' and gloriously won Long Pine's inaugural (and unsanctioned) long-distance potato gun shooting championship.

While Liz believed wholeheartedly in those she loved and generously shared her infectious zest for life with many, she navigated a decades-long battle with depression and alcoholism, triggered by a compounding series of traumas following the death of her mother at a young age. In recent years, she found a deep sisterhood in Alcoholics Anonymous and was so proud to be stepping forward as a leader in AA while working to maintain her sobriety and return to the education field. Despite her courageous efforts to stay sober, the physical and emotional toll of her addiction ultimately were too much, and she succumbed to her disease.

Survivors include her father, Lonnie Davis; stepmother, Annette Davis; husband, Charles Wallace; brother, Ben Davis (Adrienne Tranel); nephew, Abraham Davis and nieces, Alexandra, Emilia, and Louisiana Davis, and beloved curmudgeon, Maxwell the Cat. She was preceded in death by her mother, Janeth C. Davis, and her four grandparents.

Donations in honor of Liz's life can be made to The Bridge Behavioral Health in Lincoln or Trinity United Methodist Church in Grand Island.