Judith "Judy" Oleta (Watson) Davis

Judith Oleta (Watson) Davis (don't tell her we said her middle name out loud) was born May 11, 1942, in Cordell, Oklahoma, to Florence Amy (McKissick) Watson and Cecil C. Watson. She was the youngest of seven children. She passed away on September 3, 2021.

Brother Robert Watson introduced Judy to Frank her freshman year of college at Oklahoma Christian. One weekend, Frank took a chance and invited her to a college hayride, and the rest was history. Eleven months later, they married on September 2, 1961. They celebrated sixty years of wedded bliss this past Thursday, the day before Judy entered Heaven.

Together they had four children: Glen Davis, Mollie Sparks, Kelli Mitchell, and Grant Davis. Frank has said their kids were easy to raise. We are not sure Judy would agree. This is probably because Judy did the raising. Frank has said many times this past weekend, "How do people get through this without children?" The kids will tell you it's because of great parents. Judy taught them never to take themselves too seriously, leave things better than they found them, and stay humble.

Over the years, she worked at various secretarial jobs. She had a knack for numbers of all kinds. She was a meticulous bookkeeper, could tell you her phone number from every house she ever lived in, knew all of her family's social security numbers, and could rattle off her credit card number whenever the need arose. Her brothers and sisters all had this knack to some degree. For instance, their father asked the kids to help him remember the mileage once on a new car to keep track of gas mileage, and Robert called Judy a few days before she passed, and when asked her the question, Judy whispered, "5808".

Judy's gift was hospitality. From hosting Brothers Keeper's groups back in the College Church of Christ days, sharing her strawberry pies for funeral dinners, and if you were lucky, she'd bake you her signature Buttermilk Pie. (We promise, it tastes better than it sounds.) She and some friends formed a squad and unofficially dubbed themselves "The Visiting Angels." (Diane Chitwood, Brenda DeBoard, Leila Carpenter, Cathy Shipman.) Thursday evenings would find them visiting the homes of friends that were down. In recent weeks, The Visiting Angels were visiting Judy.

She opened their home during times of need. Judy and Frank hosted many family members for extended periods. They kept children, provided a home base during college and post-graduate work, and were happy to have her parents, Florence and Cecil, live with them in Muskogee for almost two years. That's a woman who practiced what she preached.

Judy relished being a grandmother. Jacob Davis told her he was proud to make her a granny at age 40. The Davises sure start young! She has 12 grandchildren and 8 great-grands. There are nearly 40 in their immediate family.

She is survived by her devoted, tall, good-looking husband, Frank; brother Robert Watson and wife Donna of Branson, MO; brother-in-law, Gene Jordan of Huntsville, AL; sister-in-law June Watson of Yukon, OK; children: Glen and Cindy Davis of Jones, OK, Mollie and Bryan Sparks of Sugar Land, TX, Kelli and John Mitchell of Edmond, OK, and Grant and Donna Davis of Tyler, TX; grandchildren, in order of birth and their families: Jacob Davis and wife Penny along with their daughters Josie and Junie; Jill Pfeffer and husband Ben along with their sons Jonas, Jude and Rowan; Danny Davis and wife Kelsey; Jed Davis and wife Taylor along with their children Elijah, Lucy, and Ollie; Aaron Sparks; Sarah Sartors and husband Tim; Alex Earnest and husband Jacob; Will Davis and wife Shiloh; Maggie Mitchell; Ben Davis; Jack Mitchell; and Eden Davis. She is also survived by many many cousins, nieces, nephews, family, and friends.

The common thread among the comments, whether from the Watson or Davis side, is "Judy was the glue that held this family together."

Frank would like to mention that in addition to his and Judy's meeting at OC, all four children graduated from Oklahoma Christian, and EACH grandchild that is college age has graduated from or is currently attending there.