Edith Alice Davis

1923 - 2014

Edith Alice (Fogg) Davis, age 91, of Willoughby formerly of Mentor on the Lake, died April 18, 2014, at Lake West Medical Center in Willoughby.
She was born in Denver, Colorado in 1923.
As a girl, she played 'Allie' opposite her sister Helen on "The Tinker Kids and Liza," a domestic radio comedy written by their mother broadcast on WTAM in Cleveland, and then nationally over New York station WINS. During WWII she served honorably in the U.S. Coast Guard. After the war, she attended Kent State University, where she studied journalism and pursued her interest in theatre, playing Emilia in a production of Othello.
It was at KSU that she met her husband, the late William L. Davis, Jr. They settled in Mentor-on-the-Lake, and Edith worked full-time as a secretary, while raising a family as a loving mother at home. She also did volunteer work, and became a founding member of Advent Lutheran Church. For a number of years she wrote and performed puppet shows for the church children, acting out Bible stories and explaining their teachings.
Together with composer Linda Eisenstein, her colleague at Navy Finance, she wrote the libretto and lyrics for their musical "The Last Red Wagon Tent Show in the Land." The Red Wagon was produced at the Cleveland Public Theatre to warm reviews, and it has charmed audiences ever since.
Edith made many friends at the Willoughby Senior Center and at the YMCA, where she loved to swim. An eager traveler, she took her children on regular camping trips, some just for the weekend, one memorable time across southern Ontario. Later, she traveled on her own to Europe and Brazil, and saw much of this country, West from Alaska to the Grand Canyon, and East from Miami to Maine. There is a photograph of her waving her fist in the air in triumph at the top of Cadillac Mountain in Maine's Acadia National Park. She was 89 at the time.
Edith is survived by her sons, Frank Thedford, William H. Davis, and Stephen C. (Kirsten) Davis; grandchildren, Andrei C. (Nouth) Davis, Leonardo R. Davis, Laila (Greg) Friddell, Charisse (Joseph) Traband, Cody Holt, Candice Holt and Christopher Davis; and a great-grandchild is due in June; sister, Helen Fogg Trutko; and brothers, Frank E. Fogg III and Raymon B. Fogg.
She was preceded in death by her husband, William L. Davis Jr; children, Brenda Davis Holt and Peter A. Davis; parents, Frank and Alice Fogg.
Family will receive friends from 5 to 8 p.m. Wed. April 23, at Brunner Sanden Deitrick Funeral Home and Cremation Center, 8466 Mentor Ave., Mentor and 10 to 11 a.m. Thursday at the church.
A funeral service will be held 11 a.m. Thurs. April 24, at Advent Lutheran Church, 7985 Munson Rd., Mentor, with a luncheon to follow. Inurnment will take place at a later date in Mentor Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, the family invites contributions in her name to Doctors Without Borders, the Cleveland Public Theatre, or the Cleveland Foodbank.
Online obituary www.brunners.com.