1928 – 2015

SOUTH PARIS — Richard H. Davis, 87, of Harrison, passed away on Saturday, Dec. 19, at the Maine Veterans’ Home in South Paris, after a lengthy battle with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). He passed surrounded by his loving family and will be forever missed. The family is extremely grateful for the loving care he received from Androscoggin Home Health Services, First Light Home Health Services, the Maine Veterans’ Home, Beacon Hospice and for the kindness provided by the owners of Ruby Slippers Cafe. We would also like to thank the many friends and relatives who provided transportation for his wife, Shirley, to and from the Maine Veterans’ Home.

Dick was born on Jan. 4, 1928, the son of Bert M. and Orpha (Sias) Davis. He attended Harrison Grammar School and high school at Bridgton Academy. He held many jobs from the age of 9 to 17, including newsboy, laborer, salesman on a bakery route, carpenter, and a welder on Liberty ships.

After his junior year of high school, at age 17, he joined the Marines and proudly served his country during World War II. Upon his return from the service, at the end of the war, he completed his senior year at Bridgton Academy, serving as president of the Class of 1947. He went on to attend the University of Maine at Orono on the GI bill, an opportunity for which he was forever grateful. He received his degree in mechanical engineering in 1952. During his time at the University of Maine, he met the love of his life, Shirley A. Libby, and they married while he was attending college.

After his graduation, Dick and Shirley moved to Massena, N.Y., where Dick had landed a job with ALCOA, the first of many moves that his engineering career involved. He loved his job as an engineer and was involved in many high-profile projects such as the construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the State of New York Niagara Power Project, the State of California Water Project, and the State of New York Blenheim-Gilboa Pumped Storage Hydroelectic project, where he worked for the last 20 years of his career.

Dick believed strongly in giving back to the community and was involved with many organizations in his lifetime including the Boy Scouts of America, Rotary Club International, and the board of the Community Hospital of Cobleskill, N.Y. He was very actively involved with the church all of his life and attended regularly.

Dick was a fantastic listener and had a wonderful sense of humor. He was a calm, generous, unassuming man and a friend to all. He was always there to lend a hand or an ear to a friend, or stranger in need.

Besides Shirley, his loving wife of 66 years, he is survived by his sister, Penelope Light of Indiana; brother, Donald Davis of Harrison; sons, Averill Davis and his wife, Christine, of Harrison, Daniel Davis of Fort Worth, Texas, Randolph Davis and his wife, Beth, of South Glens Falls, N.Y.; a daughter, Katherine Cornell and her husband, Brian, of Hudson N.H.; his grandchildren, Bert Davis and his wife, Denisa, Cynthia Davis-Krupika and her husband, Jason, Rebecca Davis-Rice and her husband, James, Daniel Davis and his wife, Shelle, Matthew Davis and his wife, LeeAnne Hunter, all of Nebraska, Elizabeth Wilds and her husband, Joe, of Reading, Pa., Colin Davis of Bitburg, Germany, Nolan and Stacie Cornell, both of Hudson, N.H.; as well as 10 great-grandchildren.

Condolences can be expressed to the family at www.chandlerfunerals.com.