Obituary of Cleo Davison

Cleo Davison January 15, 1923 - July 14, 2014 Cleo Lane Davison, born January 15, 1923, in Seabrook, Texas, passed away in Galveston, Texas on July 14, 2014. In her 91 years, she experienced the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, World War II and a lot of shopping, traveling, teaching and family fun. In 1939, at the worldly age of sixteen, she left Seabrook to attend Southern Methodist University where she met her love, and future husband William “Bill” R. Davison. Her father demanded that she finish college before she and Bill married, so when Bill enlisted in the Coast Guard during World War II, she finished her degree at the University of Houston. They married in 1943 and moved to La Porte, Texas where they raised a family and built several businesses. What started as an interest in her children’s schooling fueled a lifetime support of education. Starting as a room mother, Cleo ultimately served as president of the La Porte Elementary PTA and the La Porte High School PTA. She taught as an elementary teacher in the La Porte ISD for fifteen years. In retirement, she became a volunteer in the school’s reading programs and eventually helped direct them. She served for ten years on the La Porte ISD Board of Trustees and for a time as President of the Board. A former student said, “She gave me the lifetime joy of reading, a joy I hope to give to my children”. Her community involvement included the Salvation Army, the La Porte Garden Club, the Ladies Reading Club of La Porte, the Delta Kappa Gamma Society International, and the La Porte Rotary Club where she was inducted as one of the first two female members. She served on the scholarship committees for the Rotary Club, the La Porte Chamber of Commerce, and the San Jacinto College Scholarship Foundation. Cleo’s guilty pleasures included shopping and non-stop traveling. She once told a family member who wanted to take an afternoon nap while on vacation in New York City, “You can sleep when we get home”. She was always on the go. Cleo especially loved Christmas, and spent weeks decorating her house. She hosted huge dinners for family and friends, complete with Christmas china, linens, and of course sparkly sweaters. Cleo is preceded in death by her husband, William R. Davison, her mother and father, Rosamond and Fred Lane, and her great aunt, Olga Olson. Survivors include her daughter, Diana Davison and partner Sandy Smith, son Don Davison and daughter in law Janene Davison, grandsons Jack, Grant and Samuel Davison. The family wishes to thank the staff at The Meridian in Galveston for their compassionate care, especially Pam Green, Geralyn Green, Michelle Keats and Michelle Jones. The family also wishes to thank Jean Williams, and the late Mary Woods, for their friendship and love. A Memorial Service will be held at The Houston Yacht Club in La Porte, at 10:30 am on Friday, August 8, 2014. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the First United Methodist Church of La Porte.