Grace Elizabeth Davis

ST. PARIS – Former Champaign County resident Grace Elizabeth Davis, 93, passed away Sept. 28, 2023, at Ohio Living Dorothy Love, Sidney, Ohio, following a short illness.

She was born May 20, 1930 in Champaign County to Frank and Virgia (Long) Speece. She was raised on the family farm in Adams Township and graduated as valedictorian from Rosewood High School in 1948. Following graduation, she planned to earn money to attend college by working as a secretary at the Farm Bureau office in Urbana. Plans changed when she met Melvin "Bus" Davis and the couple eloped to Richmond, Indiana, on June 2, 1950. They settled into farming in the St. Paris area, eventually moving to the farm they would call home for nearly 47 years.

When her two children were getting older, Grace went to work for the Graham school district, subsequently working several years as secretary at the former Graham South Elementary.

Melvin and Grace spent most of their farm life on the edge of St. Paris, Ohio, becoming involved in the St. Paris community. They were most active in helping to plan and carry out the annual Pony Wagon Days Festival. Most everything they did was as a couple, collecting and selling antiques and collectibles as an avid pastime, including Walborn-Riker pony wagons. Their huge annual yard sales would draw hundreds of visitors who came to buy or admire the wonderful things they had purchased at auctions or elsewhere and had stashed away in barns and out-buildings.

Grace also loved to sew. Following her retirement from Graham South, she had planned to make quilts like her mother, but when she discovered bobbin lace, she was enthralled, and pursued learning the lost art. She traveled to Dublin, Ohio, almost weekly for 10 years to learn the skill.

As age progressed, Grace and Melvin sold the farm and moved to Urbana. They enjoyed living there for 13 years, then felt the need for more medical oversight and discovered Ohio Living Dorothy Love in Sidney. They both enjoyed living there and developed many friendships. Melvin died in 2020.

Grace moved to nursing care in 2022 but until recently was still enjoying daily walks and visits with her daughter.

Grace is survived by her son Randall "Randy" Davis (wife, Kim), Alexandria, Virginia; daughter Sharon (husband, Allen), Sidney, Ohio; granddaughter Kendall Pessala (husband Alex), Alexandria, Virginia, and grandson Taylor Briggs Davis, Alexandria, Virginia; three great-granddaughters: Alden, Blair, and Gibson Pessala; brother Melvin Speece, Bowling Green, Ohio; plus several nieces and nephews.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by two sisters: Martha Kreager and Lea Woodward, and brother William Speece.

Graveside funeral service will be held at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023, in Spring Grove Cemetery, St. Paris, Ohio with Chaplin Barb Sayler officiating.

Condolences may be expressed to the family at www.vernonfh.com.