William “Bill” Davis, Jr., passed away with family at his side on Sat. Jan. 6th at Westview Healthcare Center. The family would like to thank the staff at Westview, Brookdale and Sheridan Memorial Hospital for their kind and compassionate care over the past years and in particular over the past year as Dad approached his final days.
Bill was born on June 19, 1922 in Canyon Texas, the son of William Thomas Davis Sr. and Beulah (Hurst) Davis. He lived through the Dust Bowl and Depression in the Texas Panhandle graduating from Canyon High School in 1940. He married Dorothy Ellouise Nollner on July 18, 1942. World War II intervened and Bill joined the Coast Guard in 1942 and was deployed from Florida to Alaska installing LORAN stations to aid wartime navigation and was discharged Nov. 1945. He returned to Texas after the war and started a career in radio and TV broadcasting that took him from Levelland, Texas to the University of Houston.
Bill was engineer in charge of starting the first Public Television station in the US at the University of Houston and became very active in the U of H Communication Alumni Association being named Distinguished Alumnus in 1995. After the U of H, Bill worked in the seismic exploration business and eventually started his own company, Syntex, manufacturing seismic exploration equipment. He became very active in the International Geophysical Society and traveled extensively in the Middle East and Europe. That career took the family from Houston to Los Angeles, Seattle and finally back to Houston. During that time Bill restored Corvairs as a hobby and loved his Austin Healy and GTO Convertibles. He took the family on many trips from Texas to California with the top down which was really hard on Mom’s hair but he loved the open air and speed.
In 1995 Bill and Ellouise decided to retire to Sheridan to be closer to family and became involved in the community through Rotary, The First Presbyterian Church and the Sheridan College Foundation. From 1998 to 2002 Bill was elected to the Sheridan College Trustee Board which he really enjoyed.
Survivors include his son, Gene and wife Kandice, four granddaughters, Jana Davis-Kilpatrick, Julie Davis-Chadwick, Jill Davis-Moriarty all of Sheridan and Cynthia Simmons-Bell of Houston, nine great- grandchildren, Matt Dundas, Madeleine Black, Stevie Hill, Kennedy Hill, James Timberlake, Will Timberlake, Grace Chadwick, Mallary Bumbaca, Oscar and Hector Bell and three nephews, Robert and Earl Nollner and Lee Tanner. He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife, Ellouise and a daughter Deborah Lea Simmons and two sisters, Mary Ella Tanner and Lucille Schantz.
A Graveside Service with Military Honors will be held at 10:00 am on Wednesday, August 15, 2018, in the Sheridan Municipal Cemetery with Pastor Paul Hayden officiating.
Memorials can be made to the Sheridan College Foundation at PO Box 6328, Sheridan WY, 82801 in lieu of Flowers.
Online condolences may be written at www.kanefuneral.com.
Kane Funeral Home has been entrusted with arrangements.