Jane Davis

Jane Davis of Fort Smith, Ark., died Sunday afternoon, Feb. 18, in hospice care at Mercy Hospital in Fort Smith. She was 85. Heaven is joyful to welcome her, where she is happy and whole in her Lord’s presence.

She was born March 15, 1938, in the Olena community near DeWitt, Ark., to Harry and Mary Mae Goodwin. She attended public school in Marshall and graduated from Central High School in Little Rock in 1956. Etched among her most precious childhood memories was the moment when she “received Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior as a child in Vacation Bible School at Beech Street First Baptist Church in Texarkana, Arkansas.”

Jane completed a bachelor's degree in Home Economics at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville in August 1959.

Jane taught in public schools for 31 years in the fields of science, home economics, and elementary education. She spent the last 21 years teaching first grade at Ballman Elementary.

Alongside her professional commitment to education and the parenting of her own two children, Jane also taught sixth-grade Sunday School at First Baptist Church of Fort Smith, where she also served as an AWANAs Table Leader and loved teaching Vacation Bible School. Perhaps her greatest passion was for telling the stories of Jesus in any setting or program she was called to serve. Hundreds of children who attended FBC classes were blessed by her love for the Lord Jesus and for all His children. Along with Herbert, Jane was active and faithful in the adult Sunday School program at First Baptist, where she was a member for 63 years. Dedicated to spreading the Gospel message wherever and whenever possible, both Jane and Herbert participated in the training of international missionaries through Evangelism Explosion in the 1970s and 80s.

Throughout her 63-year marriage to Herbert, her teaching career, and her hobbies, Jane loved family best of all, completely devoted to her spouse and children, as well as extended family and friends who she treated like family. The Davis home was a haven for kids, teens, kinfolk, college groups, church leadership, lay people in missions, personal friends, and colleagues. It has always been known as a place of welcome, joy, and comfort. And food. Really, really good food.

Jane is survived by her husband, Herbert V. “Bubba” Davis of Fort Smith; one son, Louis Davis of Springhill, Tenn.; one daughter, Barbara Davis Woodring and her husband David of Fort Smith; four grandchildren, Drake Davis, Sydney Davis, Woody Woodring and Abigail Woodring; nine nieces and nephews; and many great nieces and nephews. She is also fondly remembered by scores of former students in public schools and church who she mothered as committedly as she taught.

She is preceded in death by her parents; her sister, Kay Goodwin Coleman of Little Rock; and her brother James “Jim” Goodwin of Little Rock.