Campus Namesake

 

Bill F. Davis was born in Marietta , Oklahoma on June 20, 1928, but his family moved to Whitesboro, Texas when he was four years old. Mr. Davis started and finished school in the Whitesboro school district. He showed great academic ability in school and was allowed to skip the first and third grades allowing him to graduate at the age fifteen in 1943.

Mr. Davis found it difficult to find work after he finished school, so he enlisted in the Navy at the age of seventeen. He served two years in World War II and signed up for the inactive reserves at the conclusion of the war. When the Korean Conflict broke out he was brought back to active duty in November 1950, and spent two years stationed near San Francisco. He met a special young lady between the wars and married Mary Foster the Saturday night before he received his orders for the Korean Conflict.

After the Korean Conflict, Mr. and Mrs. Davis made a home in the San Francisco area while Bill attended Golden Gate College where he received a degree in accounting. Longing for home, the Davis family moved back to Texas so Bill took a job for Concho Construction Company where he worked until his retirement thirty-one years later. Mr. Davis loved the study of Geology and the oil business and started his own company during his spare time, Grayson Petroleum Company, which he developed into a very successful company back in his home town of Whitesboro.

By this time, the Davis Family had been blessed with three children, Lawrence, Pam, and Richard and they moved the family to Wylie. From the first day they moved here in 1964 the family loved Wylie and became very involved in many community activities. Mr. Davis was asked to run for the school board by Mr. Abb Harrison, and Mr. R.C. Dodd, and he served the community in that capacity from 1968-1983. During the years of 1980- 1983 he was selected as the board President. After his time on the school board he was selected to serve on the Birmingham Land Board and did so until his death in 2001.

Besides the school, Mr. Davis had a very strong devotion to his church, First Baptist of Wylie. He served as a deacon and Sunday school director for many years and provided financial support for young people in the church who were in need of assistance for college and church activities. Today, Mrs. Davis and her daughter Pam St. John live in Wylie, while Lawrence and his family live in Sherman, where he operates Grayson Petroleum Company, Richard and his family live in the Nashville, Tennessee area.