Katherine H. Davidson

 

Katherine (Hensley) Davidson, age 83, passed away on Sunday, September 24th in Amelia, OH at the
house of her son, Kelvin and daughter in law, Tara, after a long battle with dementia. She was diagnosed
with bladder cancer only in the last months of her life. Unfortunately, the cancer had already spread to
her uterus and ovary.
She was fiercely independent, frugal and private.
Katherine was a dedicated organist in the Pentecost community, playing for church services, weddings
and Christmas plays. Over the years, she was a member of her father’s church at Liberty St, in addition
to Pentecostal Highway of Holiness and Princeton Pike Church of God.
She played the organ on 5 gospel albums recorded in the 1970’s in Cincinnati, OH.
She traveled with her accordion with her father, Grover Hensley, an evangelist preacher in the tri-state
area in the 1940 -1950’s.
Baking was a pleasure for her. She was always looking at recipes for baked goods. We looked forward to
her famous carrot cake on holidays, and her tins of cookies at Christmas. Those cookies were our favorite
gift.
She rarely traveled but when she did it was to visit her son Mark Anthony in Reno when he lived there
and later when he moved to Spokane, she visited in 1999. She also loved going to Gatlinburg with a few
of her siblings and friends. We treasured the long weekends she would spend in Amelia, OH for
holidays. She really tried to stay close to home for all her errands and shopping. Her 2003 Century Buick
only had 30,000 miles on it!
“Katherine” was actually “Catherine” on her birth certificate. Sometime in her youth she changed it from
a “C” to a “K”.
Katherine married Squire Jay Davidson on December 8, 1956 at the age of 16. Soon after they relocated
across country to El Segundo, California with their friends Liz and John Walters, where they lived for
about 11 years. Both her sons were born in California. Coming back to Cincinnati, they lived with
Katherine’s brother, Bruce and his family till they bought a house at 717 Northland Blvd. In 1978 they
built a house in Hamilton, OH where Katherine resided for 45 years, till she moved in with her son Kelvin
and daughter in law in the last 6 months of her life.
Her husband was an over the road truck driver for most of his life. She was a dedicated housewife,
managing the household while he was gone. She learned how to fix sinks, put up shelves, do all the yard
work and whatever needed to be done. She rarely called for professional help to fix anything. She had a
lot of ingenuity in finding anything around the house to fix or use rather than buying something. She
used old pantyhose to tie hoses, stacks of books and albums, tying old hangers together and more. She
cut old 2 liter plastic bottles and made funnels and storage bins out of them. She painted old coffee cans
and used them to store kitchen utensils. She used old make up jars to store coins and old shoe boxes for
any paperwork she thought she needed to keep. She rolled old towels, sewing them to make door draft
stoppers. When something broke, she kept it for future parts she might need to repair or fix something
else. She cut old zippers and buttons out of worn clothes and kept them for future repairs of other
clothing.

She was a strong and determined woman. In 1986 she found herself single. She not only studied hard to
get her GED at the age of 46, she went on to get an accounting certificate. At the age of 47, she started
working for Hamilton Fixture in accounting after being a stay at home wife and mom for 31 years. About
8.5 years later, she found herself amongst the many laid off at Hamilton Fixture. Over the next 7 years
she had to go back to school two more times studying medical coding and secretarial work. She worked
for a home health company taking care of medical coding/billing till they went out of business; she did a
small stint with Edward Jones and she worked for a lawyer in Hamilton until he retired. Finding herself
single only 8 years after moving into their new house, only making minimum wage or a little above
minimum, she was able to pay off her house.
Katherine was born to Grover and Betty Hensley on April 1, 1940 in Cincinnati, OH.
She is preceded in death by her older brothers Richard, Bruce, Fred, and Raymond (died at birth in 1939)
and her younger sister Shirley Juma.
She is survived by her two sons, Mark Anthony, (Sue), Spokane, WA, and Kelvin Jay, (Tara), Amelia, OH,
her grandchildren Rebecca and Charlee, Shawn, Amanda, Cyndal and Andy, 6 great grandchildren, and
her youngest brother, Ronnie Hensley (Terry), Pensacola, FL.

Instead of flowers, sympathy may be express by a memorial contribution to
Hospice of Cincinnati , 4310 Cooper Rd Cincinnati, OH 45242
Or
Alzheimer’s Association, 644 Linn St, Suite 1026, Cincinnati, OH 45203-1742