Jean Tate Davis, of Franklin, Tennessee, passed away peacefully while surrounded by family on Monday, November 13, 2023, at Vitality Living in Franklin, where she had resided for the past five years.
Mrs. Davis was born in LaFayette, Georgia, and grew up in Chickamauga, Georgia. She attended Chickamauga schools until she was fifteen, when she became a boarding student at David Lipscomb High School in Nashville. She graduated in 1949, then attended David Lipscomb College, graduating in 1952 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history. She met Elyon Holly Davis when she was a high school student and he was a college student at Lipscomb. They married in 1950 in Chattanooga. While her husband was overseas during the Korean War, Mrs. Davis worked at the American National Bank in Nashville. Mr. Davis later joined the FBI, and Mrs. Davis made homes for the family in Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio, and East Moline and Quincy, Illinois. She taught first through fourth grades at Franklin and Adams Elementary Schools in Quincy, Illinois, from 1969 – 1979. The family returned to Tennessee in 1979. Mr. Davis died in 2004, and the couple were married for 54 years.
Mrs. Davis was a member of the Berry’s Chapel Church of Christ in Franklin. She enjoyed fellowshipping with women, broadening her mind, and serving others as an active member and leader in many different organizations, including: The Questers, Granny White Chapter; Brentwood Association for Family and Community Education (FCE); Cumberland Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution; Harpeth Bend Garden Club; The Monday Book Review Club; and Associated Ladies of Lipscomb. Mrs. Davis traveled extensively. She was an avid collector, with an especial love of teddy bears, starting her collection with the teddy bear given to her by her future husband on her 17th birthday. Jean Tate Davis was a loving, generous, and devoted daughter, wife, mother, grandmother, and friend.
Mrs. Davis was preceded in death by her parents, Connie Gordon Tate and Nelle Kimball Tate, by her beloved husband Elyon Holly Davis, and by her grandson Ian Christian Sexter. She is survived by son Elyon Holly Davis, Jr. (Ginny), daughter Emily Jean Davis Robinson (Rodney), son Eric Lyndol Tate Davis, and daughter Ellen Davis Edwards (Byron); grandchildren Doug Davis (Gwen), Kathryn Davis Germeraad, Emily Davis, Rebecca Robinson Vaughn (Luke), Davis Robinson (Janelle), Tate Davis, Sarah Davis Railling (Chris), Bailey Peyton Davis, Morgan Davis, Sean Sexter (Alison); and ten greatgrandchildren.
Public visitation will be held on Friday, November 17, from 11:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. at Williamson Memorial Funeral Home. A private graveside service at Mt. Hope Cemetery in Franklin, Tennessee, will follow. Expressions of sympathy may take the form of donations to a charity of your choice, in loving memory of Jean Tate Davis. WILLIAMSON MEMORIAL FUNERAL HOME www.williamsonmemorial.com
