Jesse G. Davis, Jr.

October 16, 1940 – April 13, 2023

We lost one tough son of a gun on Thursday, April 13, 2023.

Jess's watch began in Oklahoma City, where his mother, the late Bertie "Inez" Heron Davis (Felkins), was an artist and a teacher. He came hard wired as a fighter, but practice makes perfect and he got a lot of that with younger brothers Juel and Danny, who sadly precede him in death. All three attended John Marshall High School, where Jess found his love for animals, raising a "Reserve Grand Champion" lamb.

He also made his name as an athlete. He hit hard in football, and later became a Golden Gloves boxer but his real love was wrestling, where he trained under National Wrestling Hall of Famer and super coach, Virgil Milliron. According to the late Wayne Baughman, Jess's teammate and lifelong friend, Jess was one of the best wrestlers of his time. Wayne should know, he went on to become a three-time Olympian wrestler.

The same sense of commitment that drove Jess as an athlete also led him to join the U.S. Marine Corps in 1958(turning down a wrestling scholarship to Northwestern University) with another lifelong friend, the late Garland Williams. After boot camp and other basic training, the Corps selected Jess for an aviation program. Jess flew the Douglas A4 Skyhawk in Vietnam, where he completed two tours of duty. Jess married and proudly welcomed his first son, Jesse Heron Davis of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, while stationed in Japan during the war.

Jess returned stateside to study at the University of Central Oklahoma while working at Founders Bank. The bank job really panned out. It was there he met the love of his life, Janis Ann Rodman of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, whom he married in May 1969. Always in a hurry, Jess earned his degree in just three and a half years while maintaining darn near a 4.0 grade point average.

Jess found his career calling right away with the Federal Civil Service Commission (now the US Office of Personnel Management or OPM). He worked his way from Presidential Management Intern to Assistant Area Manager to, finally, Area Manager, a position in which he developed the qualifications, testing and curriculum for countless federal government positions. Jess loved his colleagues, and they loved him. OPM recognized the offices he managed with many achievement awards. Jess received many personal awards, too. He may or may not have lived up to the idiom displayed on his desk, "When I work, I work hard. When I sit, I sit loose. When I think, I fall asleep."

Together with Janis, Jess had two more children, Amy Elaine Davis of Dallas, Texas, and Patrick Aaron Davis of McAlester, Oklahoma.

Jess and his family shared a life of adventure. They fished and water skied at Lake Eufaula. Camped and white water rafted in Colorado. Crabbed and deep sea fished on the coasts of Mississippi, Louisiana, Maryland and North Carolina.

Janis shared Jess's love for athletics. They touted fitness club cards long before the "gym" was a thing. Jess lifted weights and (much less enthusiastically) went for long runs. The entire family often spent Sunday afternoons playing softball.

Jess put even more time (and, if you ask Janis, a lot more money) into hunting. He and lifelong friends, Woody King and John Homer, shared a deer lease in Blocker, Oklahoma. For Jess, hunting meant much more than deer stands and cold weather, although there were plenty of both. It was a way to honor his love for animals—he kept close tabs on the deer population through the Department of Wildlife and hunted with the sincere belief it meant a better, heathier life for the herd overall. But more importantly, it was a means to pass along to his children and grandchildren his wonder for nature and the devotion and sacrifice of a worthy hunter.

But Jess wasn't all hard edges and rough corners. Jess was a man of faith and conviction. He loved God and Country. He was a true Renaissance man.

He played guitar and sang Buddy Holly and classic country music, like Marty Robins and Johnny Cash.

He baked sourdough and pumpkin bread—using his own sourdough starter and puréed fresh pumpkin, of course.

He canned homegrown vegetables and made delicious jellies with sand plums picked with his family from the side of highways and blueberries from Winding Stair Mountainin eastern Oklahoma.

He tanned deer hides and built sheds.

He grew a garden of amazing bounty. Not just the usual veggies, but everything from fruit and nut trees to eggplant and even peanuts. His garden was so big, his children were convinced he had a big family just to pick the weeds. After retiring—and long after his kids were grown and could refuse to weed—Jess was named a master gardener and his raised beds were featured in a gardening magazine.

Jess read everything he could get his hands on, especially a good detective novel or historical nonfiction. More than anything, though, he loved reading aloud and had a voice that could calm the fussiest child. He read to his children, his grandchildren and even local school children. Classic poems from the "Green Book" were crowd favorites.

Jess was a toughie right to the end. He walked a half marathon at 75. Well, he mostly walked it. Janis likes to say he walked nine miles and Amy (his daughter) drug him the rest of the way.

At the end of his watch, Jess left behind more family and friends than can be mentioned. That said, he would want to name a few more, like his siblings Genevie Cox of Bethany, Oklahoma, Odalie Wildes of Norman, Oklahoma and Richard Felkins of  Edmond, Oklahoma and his inherited children Cari Lynn Cochran of Ennis, Texas, Christopher Mark Chamberlain of The Woodlands, Texas and Kimberly Diane Hay of Edmond, Oklahoma.

All of Jess's family and friends will sorely miss his wit, wisdom and even his strong-will. In this time of sadness, he would say, "this, too, shall pass." In our moments of uncertainty, he would remind us to be:

Semper Fi .

The Family is hosting a "Celebration of Life," Sunday, May 7th at 2:00 p.m. at Northside Assembly of God Church in McAlester.