Obituary for Merle Davis

Born in Durham, NC on February 11, 1944, she was the daughter of the late Irma Gunther Smith and Laurence Smith.

Merle was born in Durham, NC, and grew up in Chapel Hill. She graduated from Chapel Hill High School in 1962.  She attended the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and received her education degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1966.

Half of Merle’s career was spent as an elementary classroom teacher in Charlotte, Chapel Hill and on Ocracoke Island. The other half of her professional life was spent as an Arts Administrator. She was Director of the Duplin County Arts Council in Kenansville, NC, and later Director of Artsplosure in Raleigh, NC. For the last 25 years she has been the Arts Administrator for Donald Davis, Storyteller, Inc., her husband, Donald’s, storytelling business.

In their time together she and Donald loved travel, camping, reading and cooking.

Merle is survived by her husband, Donald D. Davis of Ocracoke; four sons, Patrick Jubal Creech of Thailand, Douglas Davis (Jill) of Raleigh, Jonathan Davis (Koran) of Greensboro, and Kelly Davis (Erin) of Durham; two grandsons, Tommy and Frank; and a brother, Larry Smith (Robin) of Richmond, VA. 

A memorial service will be held at 1:00 pm on Saturday, January 6, 2017, at the Ocracoke Community Center. Memorial gifts may be directed to the Ocracoke Preservation Society on Ocracoke Island, PO Box 1240, Ocracoke, NC 27960.

Twiford Funeral Home, Manteo is assisting the family with arrangements. Condolences may be expressed at www.TwifordFH.com.