Elsie Martha Davis 7/16/1921- 2/10/2010

Julia and I were laying in bed this morning at about 6:30 with Henry and talking about why he wasn't sleeping and how we both felt sick (I had a fever last night and today). Amid our discussion my mom called and told me that my grandma had died in the night. We have been expecting the call for a few days.

I thought I would write a few things about her life from stories that she has told me.
She started her life in Provo, UT in 1921. However, my grandma's father was a prospector. His ventures brought his family to Nevada. He worked in mines for several years trying to find silver. To my knowledge he was never very successful but it set the stage for a new family. My grandmother was working as a waitress in Winnemucca, NV. My grandfather was in town doing construction. On Monday night he went in to the cafe and ordered some coffee. After flirting with my grandmother he asked if he could take her out after she got off work. She agreed and let him know what time she would be off. My grandpa went back to his room, fell asleep for a few hours and woke up a 3 am, several hours after my grandmother got off work. The next night he went back to the cafe and begged for another chance. She agreed and this time he stayed until she got off of work. That was Tuesday night. They saw each other every day that week and got married by the justice of the peace on Saturday. My grandmother said that the Justice was also a suitor and that he was a little reluctant to preform the ceremony.

My grandfather was in the Merchant Marines and Coast Guard during WWII. His assignments brought them to the SF Bay area. My grandmother told me that she had a lot of adventures driving delivery box trucks through the steep hills of San Francisco. She would deliver goods to the docks to be sent to troops. She said that she would find out where the cargo was headed. If it was going to an island where my grandpa might be she would staple a letter addressed to him on one of the cargo boxes. Most of the letters somehow found their way to him. After the war they settled down in Alamo, CA where my grandfather built a house.

In about 1955 my grandmother took the kids and went to Las Vegas for a few weeks to visit family. When she returned my grandfather told her he had been talking to the missionaries and that he was ready to get baptized. They were sealed in the Los Angles Temple in 1958. (They were married for 58 years before my grandfather died in 1999).

Because of an injury my grandfather incurred during the war the doctors recommend that he move to high altitude. They ended up in Bountiful, UT. Grandma worked at Shirners hospital as a cook for many years. Then, my grandmother opened a floral shop on Main St. in Bountiful, Elsie's floral. That venture lasted 20 years.

If you subscribe to the Davis County Clipper you would have seen her win various awards for best yard (she had an amazing flower bed in her front yard, I spent many hours pulling weeds there, sometimes I pulled flowers on accident), and best ginger bread house. Once the paper did an article on her miniature dollhouse collection. She was the ultimate crafty lady. Her house was not a place for grandchildren. Not only was her basement full of miniature dollhouses, almost every inch of the upstairs walls were filled with collector plates and spoons.

After I moved to Utah grandma and I became closer. For several years I tried to visit her once a week. We talked about a lot of things. I remember one time both of us crying and sobbing about how hard it was to be lonely. The loneliness has now been cured for both of us. I have a wonderful wife and son and she is now with the man that treated her like a queen all of her life.

I love you grandma. You will be missed.