Patricia “Pat” Davis
DAVIS, KELLY, GREGA, LEHMANN
Posted By: Sarah Fletcher (email)
Date: 1/23/2023 at 08:27:52
Patricia “Pat” Davis of Iowa City passed away peacefully on January 1, 2023.
Pat was born in Olean, New York on November 30, 1935, to Joseph and Rose (Grega) Kelly. She graduated from St. Elizabeth’s Academy and then attended the Eastman School of Music and Northwestern University, graduating with a degree in Music Education.
In 1958, Pat married Thomas L. “Tom” Davis, a fellow student at Northwestern. She and Tom moved to Iowa City, where Tom worked at the University of Iowa as head of the Percussion department. In Iowa City, Pat taught music at University High School for a year, then settled into the role of amazing mother to her four boys, Terry (Becky) of Port St. Lucie, Florida, Tim (Leslie Lehmann) of Lancaster, New York, Marty, of Iowa City, and Dan (Shana) of Seattle, Washington. Pat is also survived by her brother, Jack (Marcia) Kelly, of New York City, and two grandchildren, Michael (Megan), of Port St. Lucie, Florida, and Max (Sarah), of Sanford, Florida.
In the 1970’s Pat returned to paid work at the University of Iowa, first at the Athletic office, and subsequently at the University’s Hospitals and Clinics as an Administrative Assistant.
Pat never pressured her children to pursue any specific paths in life, encouraging exploration and urging her children to find what they wanted to do and do it well. She was supportive of whatever choices they made. She and Tom enjoyed decades of traveling Bridge games with many Iowa City friends, tennis in and around Iowa City, annual fly-fishing trips to Wyoming, river cruises in Europe, and splitting her time between Iowa and Florida in retirement.
Pat volunteered to serve on the Parish Council of the Saint Thomas More Catholic Church, and the Board of the University Athletic Club. In retirement, she and Tom became avid memoir writers, and chronicled their lives with the Gray Hawks Memoir Writers Group.
Pat was well-known among family and friends as a ‘straight shooter,’ not afraid to speak the plain, unvarnished truth when it was most needed.
A reception will be held at Lensing’s Oak Hill-Coralville, 210 Holiday Road, Coralville, on Saturday, January 7, from 2-4 PM.
Instead of flowers or plants, Pat requested donations be directed toward the University of Iowa Foundation in memory of the Thomas L. Davis Percussion Scholarship fund, which may be made here: https://givetoiowa.org/percussion.
Lensing Funeral & Cremation Service
Johnson Obituaries maintained by Cindy Booth Maher.
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