Alonzo Lee "Lonnie" Davis Sr.

LEXINGTON - Alonzo Lee "Lonnie" Davis Sr., 95, owner of Davis Chevrolet Inc. of Lexington died Monday, June 5, 2006, at Lexington Health Care. Mr. Davis was born in Winston-Salem in 1911 and moved with his family to Lexington at age 7. In 1931, he graduated from Lexington Senior High School, where he was a standout football player, earning a football scholarship to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He left UNC after his first year to return home to a job at Lexington Silk Mill during the Depression. In 1933, he joined his father, Charles Davis, in business. Charles Davis was the owner of what was then Davidson Motor Co., a Chevrolet dealership. Upon his father's death in 1938, he became general manager and franchise dealer. In 1966, Mr. Davis moved the business from its original location downtown to its current location on North Main Street Extension and changed the name to Davis Chevrolet. He served as general manager, president and owner until 1985, when his son, Lonnie Davis Jr., took over as general manager. The business is now run by his grandson, Lee Davis, making Davis Chevrolet the oldest family-owned Chevrolet dealership in the Southeast. Mr. Davis was active in several automobile dealer organizations, namely serving on the board of directors of the N.C. Auto Dealers Association from 1964 to 1970 and as a member of the Chevrolet Dealers Council. Mr. Davis also was active in the Lexington community. He was an emeritus board member of Lexington State Bank, having served on the board since 1950; past president and board member of the Lexington Retail Merchants Association; former board member of the Lexington YMCA; and a member of First Baptist Church, where he had served as a deacon. Along with friend Casper Timberlake and then-fire Chief Norman Owen, Mr. Davis was instrumental in establishing the first rescue squad in Davidson County in the mid-1940s. He was past president and a life member of the Lexington Kiwanis Club. He was particularly proud of his role in leading the committee of Kiwanians who in 1953 built and opened what is now Kamp Kiwanis, which provides summer camp opportunities for approximately 200 underprivileged children in Davidson County each year. He helped bring the Davidson County Agricultural Fair to Lexington in the late 1940s to raise the funds needed to build and maintain this camp. Mr. Davis was preceded in death by his parents, Annie Crater and Charles Lee Davis; his first wife, Virginia Myers; and five siblings, Russell Davis, Gray Davis, Marshall Davis, Louise Wintzer and Ruth Fanslau. He is survived by his wife, Jeanne S. Davis; his sister, Elizabeth Hinkle of Lexington; six children, Virginia Ann Carson and husband Bill of St. Petersburg, Fla.; Lonnie Davis Jr. of Lexington; Mary Hedrick and husband George of Winston-Salem; Mike Davis and wife Sonja of Lexington; Dan Davis and wife Emma of Cary; and Saundra Westervelt and husband Van of Greensboro; 18 grandchildren; and more than 20 great-grandchildren. The funeral will be held at 3 p.m. Thursday, June 8, at First Baptist Church of Lexington, West Third Avenue. The family will receive visitors in the fellowship hall of the church after the funeral. The burial for family only will be on Friday morning at Forest Hill Memorial Park. Employees of Davis Chevrolet and members of the Lexington Kiwanis Club will be seated as honorary pallbearers and are asked to gather at the church at 2:30 p.m. Thursday, June 8. Memorial gifts may be directed to Kamp Kiwanis Foundation, c/o Fidelity Bank, 114 W. Second Ave., Lexington, NC 27292; First Baptist Church, P.O. Box 436, Lexington, NC 27293; or Furman University, Saunders-Davis Scholarship, 3300 Poinsett Highway, Greenville, SC 29613. Davidson Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Online condolences may be made at www.davidsonfuneralhome.net