The Observer Newspapers |Herndon Loses a Great Man

August 8 , 2008

Herndon Loses a Great Man

To the editor:

Herndon has lost a great man. Richard Davis of Van Buren Street in Herndon died last wee. He was 82.

I didn't know him well since we had only lived next door to him for three years, but I knew what he was about and admired him greatly. He lived in Herndon for more than 40 years, raised a family here and had a successful business. He lived modestly although he was a founder of the Dewberry and Davis engineering firm, which was instrumental in much of the development in Northern Virginia.

His housekeeper, Phyllis worked for him for more than 35 years and is a regular smiling face on Van Buren Street. His daughter told me Phyllis is part of the family. In this day and age where loyalty, humility and commitment are sometimes hard to find, Mr. Davis truly embodied those things.

My husband and I were always amazed at his super-human strength and determination. He built furniture in his garage and was regularly seen carrying huge pieces of lumber to and from the back yard. Often, I saw him climbing into the back of his truck loading and unloading large pieces of equipment. I marveled last winter when I saw him simultaneously dragging his Christmas tree and a full trash can down to the curbÑsomething I couldn't do. Two weeks before his diagnosis of cancer, he had been out hunting and camping with his long-time buddy. He told me his back was a little sore from sleeping on the ground for three nights. All this at age 82! Although we didn't know him well, my husband and I admired his strength, work ethic and determination to live life to the fullest.

My 9-year-old son looked up to him, too. The age gap didn't interfere with the impact his war stories from the Pacific in World War II had on my wide-eyed son as he listened to them. He also would be captivated by Mr. Davis's anecdotal hunting and fishing stories. For the last three years my son looked forward to soliciting him for his Herndon Optimist Youth Baseball bat-a-thon (to which he donated generously) since it would involve a "sit down" and a few more fascinating stories. He could be seen driving around town in his silver sedan with a license plate that said PFC WWII on it. We will miss you, PFC WWII.

Joanne Lyons

Herndon