Former councilor Davis dies

By Eric Maddy
The SCORE

Former Rio Rancho city councilor and community leader Fay Davis died Thursday. She was 82.

Davis, who filled out the term vacated when Mike Williams was promoted to Mayor in 2007, died in a hospital in Hanover, Pa., where she was visiting family.

Davis was an active member of the Senior Services Advisory Board and volunteered in the Rio Rancho school district. She was also a member of the Friends of the Library and the city’s library board.

“She was a pillar in this community and a wonderful friend,” Williams said Monday. “She treated everybody with respect and had a great sense of humor.

‘She was always willing to help and was always thinking about others. She was never afraid to step up to the plate. I was shocked to find out that this happened.”

Williams apponed Davis to fill his city council seat in 2007 after he was promoted from deputy mayor to mayor. Williams filled the vacancy created Kevin Jackson resigned amid investigations over his use of a city credit card.

Williams said Davis contracted a liver infection that was the apparent cause of her death.

A moment of silence was observed at the start of Monday’s meeting of the Rio Rancho school board.

An active Democrat, Davis volunteered for the campaigns of President Barak Obama, Gov. Bill Richardson, Sen. Tom Udall and her son, John Davis, who is a district judge in Sandoval County.

In addition to Judge Davis and his wife Vicki, she is also survived children Karen and Rick Engle of Hanover; Donna Rupp, the media specialist at Colinas del Norte Elementary,; Marilyn and Ken Switzer of Holton, Kan.; and Mike Davis of Westminster, Colo. She also had 14 grandchildren and six great grandchildren.

Davis was born June 10, 1926, in Philadelphia, the daughter of the late Lewis G. and Cora Mae (Fetters) Findlay. Fay was preceded in death by her husband Grier.

She graduated Summa Cume Laude from the University of Albuquerque in 1979. She retired from her job as a specialist in the Native American Education Program at the University of New Mexico in 1984.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to Storehouse West, 1030 Veranda Rd. S.E., No. F, Rio Rancho, N.M. 87124. Funeral arrangements are being handled by Kenworthy Funeral Home, 269 Frederick Street, Hanover, Pa.

Condolences can be sent online at www.kenworthyfh.com.