Fred Melvin Davis

21 June 1921 – 6 February 2014

Fred Melvin Davis, the youngest of three children, was born and raised in Fort Dodge, Iowa, where he attended a country school. He met Violet Swearingen when he stopped by the house to take her sister to work. Violet answered the door. She was fifteen; he was nineteen. Six months after returning home from the Navy, he and his childhood sweetheart, Violet, were married on 22 June 1946. She was now twenty-one; he was twenty-five. They had a daughter, Cheryl, and a son, Craig.

Mel, Violet, and the children always enjoyed an outdoor life, taking many camping trips to destinations such as Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon. For many years, Mel went on family vacations with Cheryl, Bill and granddaughters, Mindy and Kimberly. When Kimberly and Ross Baker were married in Florida, Mel was proud to attend. In recent days, he was happy to know a great-grandbaby is on the way. And every Saturday night, he looked forward to Craig coming over.

Mel worked on a farm and delivered milk. When World War II began with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he joined the Navy. He served first on the east coast and then in the South Pacific, where his most vivid memory is participating in the Navy’s invasion of Okinawa. In 1954, the family moved to California, where Mel found work in Northrop’s experimental department. Later, he spent twelve years with Research Camera Company and another twelve years with the Air Force, driving three days a week to Edwards Air Force Base. Then, for over twenty years, Mel did plumbing, electrical, and carpentry work for his own home repair company called Mel’s Home Service. He finally retired at age eighty-five, because he lost his driver’s license. After he fell off a roof and later was electrocuted, people started calling him the guy with nine lives.

When he retired, Mel enjoyed attending a breakfast meeting every Monday morning with military friends, mainly from the Air Force, who call themselves Wings Over Wendy’s.

Mel enjoyed people. When the doorbell rang, Mel would jump out of his chair, because he was so happy to see whoever was at his door. He liked sitting on the porch, where he could see and greet everyone. He would holler at the neighbors, talk to the people taking walks, and greet the mail-carrier. Everyone waved and said Hi.

Across the years, a number of people lived with Mel – Dan and Carol for five years, Craig for a time, and his son-in-law, Bill Roberts. Since Bill lives in Kansas, but is employed by Crystal Cruises, centered in Los Angeles, his second home was with Mel. And many of his grandchildren’s friends stayed at the house too.

Mel was stubborn; he admitted it. “Hell yes I am,” he would say. He had a great sense of humor and was smiling or about to smile most of the time.

Mel was also a glass half full kind of guy. One of his favorite poems puts it this way: I’m drinking from my saucer, ‘cause my cup has overflowed. He was generous, whether paying for lunch or Costco memberships, helping to buy a first car, or sending birthday money. It was also very important to him to contribute to the church.

Mel was fearless. He let his brother tie him to a windmill for a ride. Luckily, mom looked out the window just as brother was about to flip the switch. Longer than we were happy to have him doing it, Mel climbed ladders to clean out the rain gutters and strapped himself to trees in order to trim the branches. When he was seventy-five, he went with the family to the Pacific Science Center in Seattle, Washington; he was the only one in his group to ride the High Rail Bicycle that is fifteen feet above the ground and on a rail one inch wide!

After Violet’s death in 1987, Mel joined St. John’s in the Valley UMC along with his daughter and two granddaughters. He was a very active member, spending every Saturday plus some other days keeping St. John’s church and Sunday school buildings in good repair. On Sundays, he was an usher; in fact, he was the only usher in the church’s final years. When St. John’s closed, Mel and others transferred their membership to First UMC of Canoga Park, where he continued serving as an usher.

Shortly after I came to this church, I saw Mel standing outside long after worship ended. He was waiting for his ride home. He said, “I’m happy to wait, because there is no other place I’d rather be on Sunday morning, than in the house of the Lord.” In Psalm 84, the psalmist puts it this way: “Happy are those who live in your house, ever singing your praise. … For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere” (verses 4 and 10a). How good it is to know that Mel will dwell in the house of the Lord forever (Psalm 23).

Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:57)

The Rev. Lynn Westover

Canoga Park First United Methodist Church

22700 Sherman Way

West Hills, California 91307

February 10, 2014