Mary Elizabeth Mayes Davis Cabe

Mary Elizabeth Mayes Davis Cabe, a longtime resident of Acworth, passed away on July 22, 2023, at the age of 96 after a short battle with cancer. She was born on June 6, 1927, in a log cabin in the Atlanta neighborhood of Bolton, the fourth of six children of Frank Dewey Mayes and Sallie Johnson Mayes. They lived through the hardships of the Great Depression, World War II, and the Korean War. She said the cabin was cold in the winter and she often had five quilts but still woke to frosty breaths. She graduated from West Fulton High School and married her first husband, Joel Lamar Davis. They were childhood friends and had grown up in the same neighborhood. Lamar had joined the Navy Air Corps, and she couldn’t resist the pilot. He was injured a week before he got his wings, which kept him out of the remainder of the war. They soon settled in Acworth and had two sons, Gary and Joel.

Mary was intelligent and ambitious, so when her children were in high school, she graduated from Marietta Vocational Technical School as a Medical Office Assistant and worked in a local doctor’s office for a short while. However, she was not finished with college and careers yet, and she went on to get an Associate Degree in Science (With Honors) from Kennesaw Junior College and a Bachelor’s Degree and Master’s Degree in Education from West Georgia College. She became a teacher and taught at Hiram Elementary School for eleven years. She loved teaching and singing in the choir at Acworth United Methodist Church.

Lamar died in 1974. She was lonely, but soon met a wonderful man, Wiley Rogers Cabe, an Army Air Corps veteran of the Berlin Air Lift and career Lockheed employee. He was a widower with two sons, Leslie and Robin. They married in 1976, and they spent many years traveling through North America in their motor home, with their cat Penny aboard. Wiley unfortunately passed away in 2013.

Four of her brothers, Frank, Julian, George, and Bobby, preceded her in death, as did her son Joel Davis and stepson, Leslie Cabe. She is survived by her brother Walter Harold Mayes, her son Gary Davis (Jane) and stepson Robin Cabe (Peggy); daughters-in-law Annette Davis and Analyn Cabe; grandchildren Joel Davis (Leah), Nathanial Cabe (Melissa), Nicol Cabe, Collin Solonka, Jarrett Davis (Gray), Josie Cabe, and Abbie Cabe; great-grandchildren JT Davis, Kendall Cabe, and Liam McMahon; and many more beloved nieces, nephews, and extended family. Visitation will be from 6 to 8 pm on Thursday, August 17, 2023, at Winkenhofer Pine Ridge Funeral Home, 2950 N. Cobb Parkway, Kennesaw, Georgia 30152. A memorial service will be held at the Acworth United Methodist Church, 4340 Collins Circle, Acworth, Georgia 30101 on Friday, August 18, 2023, at 2 pm. Burial will immediately follow the service at the Acworth Liberty Hill Cemetery, 4900 Cemetery Road, Acworth, Georgia 30101.

Donations may be made to the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, Development Office, 1762 Clifton Road, Suite 1400, Atlanta, GA 30322, or your favorite animal shelter or animal rescue organization.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.winkenhoferpineridgefuneralhome.com for the Cabe family.