Obituaries
Memorial for Former Mayor Aubrey Davis Set for May 18
Davis died at age 95 on February 17. He was an advocate for transit and transportation projects, and a board member for Group Health, as well as a family man who loved Shakespeare and the Mariners.
The memorial for former Mercer Island Mayor and Councilman Aubrey Davis will be held May 18 at The Paramount Theatre, 911 Pine Street in Seattle at 10:29 a.m.
Davis, who was 95 years old, died Feb. 17, 1993.
Davis was elected to city council in 1967, became its mayor in 1970, and was a driving force behind the creation of the Mercer Island lid, according to his Davis' obituary in the Seattle Times.
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According to HistoryLink, Davis, as mayor, was at odds with the state when it proposed making Interstate 90 a 16-lane highway with four-story ramps through Mercer Island.
"We don’t want to see it. We don’t want to hear it. We don’t want to smell it," he told the state, according to HistoryLink.
Find out what's happening in Mercer Islandwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Today, the landscaped lids cover parts of the 8-lane freeway through the Island.
Aubrey Davis' wife, Henrietta, known as "Retta," got a teaching job on Mercer Island in 1960, and the family moved there. He and his wife were known together as "Aubrietta" through their 65 years of marriage, ending with Retta’s death in 2008, according to his obituary at the People's Memorial Cooperative.
The article said Davis was an advocate for transit and transportation for decades, including serving on Metro’s Transit Committee, the federal Urban Mass Transportation Administration and the Washington Transportation Commission.
He also served on the board of Group Health Cooperative, after he and his wife joined it in its first months of operation in 1946.
Not only was a community leader and businessman, but he also was a dedicated family man taking his family to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland every year for 25 years, according to the Seattle Times.
One of his last public appearances was at the recent Mercer Island Youth and Family Services Foundation “Giving from the Heart Breakfast," according to the Seattle Times article.
The time for his memorial was set for 10:29 a.m. According to his obituary, 29 had a special meaning for Davis.
The number 29 was important to Aubrey: he was born on the 29th, married on the 29th, bombed at sea on the 29th, his son was born on the 29th, and he died at 7:29 am Sunday Feb 17.
Online:
HistoryLink.org: Aubrey Davis
People's Memorial Cooperative Obituary: Aubrey Davis
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