Mary Ellen (O’Connor) Davis was born on March 28, 1923 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Her early childhood years were spent in Ohio. After her parents died in 1930 she relocated to California. In 1954, she graduated from the University of California Los Angeles with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science. The following year she attended Law School at UCLA but did not graduate. In 1956, Ms. Davis became editor of the Tacoma Star. Her husband, Frederick W. Davis, was an administrative engineer for Weyerhaeuser and served as director of Potlatch Forests, Inc. They had six children together. She was appointed by Governor Albert D. Rosellini as a Board of Trustee member at Central Washington State College in 1960. She served through 1968, ultimately as chair. The same year as her appointment, Ms. Davis was Public Information Director for the Washington State Legislature's Citizens' Study of Education in Washington State, which later gave rise to the Interim Committee on Education. From 1961 to 1964, she was an advisor to the Interim Committee on Education as part of its Higher Education Subcommittee. As a Central trustee, Ms. Davis participated in the Association of Governing Boards of State Colleges and Universities, and from 1963 to 1968 she was a member of the Association of Governing Boards of State Colleges and Universities Educational TV Committee. As of 2008, Ms. Davis had retired, residing in Kirkland, Washington, and Wailua, Kauai, Hawaii.
From the guide to the Central Washington University Board of Trustees, Mary E. Davis Papers, 1958-1972, (Central Washington University Archives and Special Collections)
Epithet: Miss; organiser of nursing in Natal
British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000213.0x00026c
