LEWISTON — At 108, you’re entitled to celebrate twice. And that’s just what Lillian M. Davis did recently.

On Friday, May 26, she celebrated her 108th birthday with a large group of her fellow residents at Montello Manor where she is a hospice patient.

Two days later, on her actual birthday, she celebrated with family members, some of whom traveled from New York. 

Davis has seen much in her 108 years. She began her career as a model for Ward Brothers and T.J. Murphy Furs, an experience she loved and still talks about fondly. Then she started as an office worker and moved up to the ranks of office manager and finally co-owner of Bates Street Cigar and Confectionery Company, Maine’s largest wholesaler of confections and sundries, with offices in Lewiston, Portland and Berlin, New Hampshire.

She was married for 57 years to Denis A. Davis, a Lewiston educator. The couple had two children, the Rev. John Patrick Davis of Lewiston and Elaine Davis Hartnett of Whitesboro, New York.

Lillian and Denis thoroughly enjoyed focusing on their grandchildren, Jim and Kathleen, during summer-long visits to the family cottage on Sebago Lake.

Lillian’s five great-grandchildren give her joy during their visits to visit “GiGi” (Great-Grandma). Pictures of her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren adorn her walls and she enjoys telling visitors, with a sweep of her hand, those are my babies!” 

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