Dorothy Carver Davis

POTTSVILLE - Dorothy Carver Davis, 87, formerly of Pottsville, died Saturday night, April 17, 2010 at her home in Pine Grove. She was born in Plymouth, Pennsylvania on October 24, 1922, the daughter of the late Charles and Kate Jenkins Carver and was the youngest of nine children. After graduating from the Ward D. Davenport High School in Plymouth in 1940, she worked in a silk mill for one year. She then went on to Pittston Nursing School and graduated as a registered nurse from the Pittston Hospital in 1944. She was the last class of cadet nurses. She began her nursing career as a private duty nurse in New Jersey and moved on to the staff of the Infirmary of Cornell University in Ithica, New York. She returned to Plymouth in 1947 to care for her mother and continued both industrial nursing in Berwick and joined the staff of the West Side Visiting Nurse Association where she remained from 1948 until 1952. She also organized a Red Cross unit in the Mifflintown Presbyterian Church during the Korean War where she met and worked with volunteers preparing bandages. While there she also has a leadership role in the Women's Working Group and was an active church choir member. She served on the committees for the Juniata Foundation for the Blind. During her years in Pottsville, she was an active member of the United Presbyterian Church as the pastor's wife from 1959-1986. She was elected and served as a Ruling Elder of the Session for three years. She served as the co-president of the Women's Association, was a choir member, and was active in the women's craft group of the church. She was also a member of the St. Clair Slovak Presbyterian Church carrying on a quiet ministry to the church families experiencing illness or hospitalization. Later as a member of St. Paul's Methodist Church and Donaldson Methodist Church in Pine Grove, she brought much comfort to the elderly and was very endeared to the congregation. She was a member of the Pottsville Hospital Auxiliary and it was during that time that she participated in the Baby Cap Program. She was past president of the Service Circle of the King's Daughters and ran their visiting nurse service from 1973 until she retired in November 1986. While residing in Oxford, PA, from 1987 until 1992, she volunteered as a patient representative in the Oxford Manor Nursing Home and the Presbyterian Nursing Home, Delaware. She and her husband, the Reverend Elmer J. Davis, pastor emeritus of the United Presbyterian Church of Pottsville, celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on December 26, 2009. She was preceded in death by her sisters, Hannah Titel, Clara Casem, Catherine Muchler and Tydvil Roose; and brothers Charles, Francis, Donald and Robert Carver. In addition to her husband, Rev. Elmer J. Davis, she is survived by her son, David J. Davis, of Pottsville; her daughter, Dr. Lydia J. Davis, of Coatsville; her youngest son Robert A. Davis, of San Jose, CA; and her grandchildren, John and Rachel Davis. Funeral services will be held on Saturday morning at 11:00 AM with the Rev. Ira Lydic officiating. Family and friends may call on Friday evening from 6-8PM from the Schlitzer Allen Pugh Funeral Home, Inc., 6th & W. Market St., Pottsville and Saturday morning from 10 until time of service. Interment will be private in the Charles Baber Cemetery, Pottsville. The family would request that remembrances be made to the United Presbyterian Church, 214 Mahantongo St., Pottsville, PA 17901, the St. Paul's United Methodist Church, 19 E. Pottsville St., Pine Grove, PA 17963 or the American Alzheimer's Association, 3544 North Progress Avenue, Suite 205, Harrisburg, PA 17110.