Davenport, Mike (1942-2015)

DAVENPORT, WATSON, ELLIS

Posted By: Paul Nagy (email)
Date: 11/30/2015 at 12:26:42

Mike Davenport
December 27, 1942 - October 15, 2015

A son of George and Helen Davenport, Mike Davenport, age 72, passed away on Thursday, October 15, 2015, in San Diego, California.

Mike was born on December 27, 1942, at Porath Hospital in Storm Lake. He attended grade school at West School and graduated from Storm Lake High School in 1961. During his high school years, he participated in football, basketball, golf, and track, sang with the high school choir, and joined the speech club. He was also an active member of Lakeside Presbyterian Church and DeMolay. An avid fisherman, he loved spending time on Storm Lake. During the summers, he worked at the New Inn at Okoboji and often told of his having partied there with the Beach Boys.

Mike earned his undergraduate degree at Iowa State University in 1964 where he served as TKE rush chairman. After graduating, he enlisted in the Air Force and served his country for four years at Thule Air Force Base in Greenland and eventually at Travis AFB in California. After his military service he did graduate work at the University of Iowa where he, also, joined the sailing club and the singing group, Up With People. At the same time, he became a Hawkeye fan. He attended almost every football and basketball game and wrestling match, and he continued to follow the Hawkeyes religiously for the rest of his life.

After he earned his graduate degree, Mike spent the next few years in Des Moines working as a mediation specialist and then as human resources director for a number of organizations including Broadlawns Hospital, Lutheran Hospital, and Our Primary Purpose, a national drug and alcohol rehabilitation program.

He married Mary Watson in 1988, and after living in Des Moines for several years, they moved with their golden retrievers to Boulder, Colorado, in 1992. Colorado suited them: they loved the culture and the mountains where they spent their free time hiking with their dogs and attending concerts, often at Red Rocks amphitheater. During this time, Mike followed politics closely as a confirmed Democrat and added the Broncos to his list of favorite sports teams. In Boulder, he went to work as a sales rep for Flatirons Acura, a job he loved and stayed with until he retired in 2012. At that time, he and Mary moved to San Diego where they spent the last three years enjoying the milder weather and slower pace of life.

Mike's smile, sense of humor, and zest for life will be missed by the many people who loved him including his wife, Mary Davenport, of San Diego; his mother, Helen Davenport, of Phoenix, Arizona; his brother, Steven Davenport, of San Francisco, California; his sister, Betsy Davenport; his brother in-law, Bryan Ellis, of Phoenix, Arizona; and his sister, Sheri Davenport, as well as a number of cousins and good friends. Mike was preceded in death by his father, George Davenport, and his mother- and father-in-law, Gen and Donald Watson.

A private celebration of life will be held by Mike's family.

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