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SAUNDRA AMRHEIN and MICHAEL VAN SICKLEROn the day a school named for her opens nearby, illness takes a woman who gave much money and time to that and other charities.
TAMPA - When class started Thursday at the Helen Ayala Davis Elementary School, its namesake planned to be there.
Mrs. Davis had spent five decades at the nearby Children's Home helping abused and neglected children. So when the school was set to start its first class on the home's property, she didn't want to miss it.
But the very day the school doors opened, Mrs. Davis died following two strokes that stilled a life devoted to charity. She was 89.
"I think that her being taken to be with the Lord the same day they start ... it is a true memorial now for her life's work," said her grandson, Sheldon McMullen.
Mrs. Davis' health quickly deteriorated after she suffered a stroke June 25 and a second one a week and a half later, said McMullen, 29, a Tampa lawyer.
Active to the end, Mrs. Davis attended a Salvation Army board meeting the day before the stroke, he said.
"She was one who loved to give and did not like much recognition," McMullen said.
But Mrs. Davis' generous acts have not gone unnoticed. Over the years she has received numerous awards for her community service with the Children's Home, as well as the Salvation Army, the Spring, the Tampa General Hospital Foundation, the Junior League of Tampa and other organizations. There's even an award given in her name to other child advocates.
Naming the school for her was a legacy well deserved, officials said.
Mrs. Davis donated thousands of dollars and thousands of hours to the Children's Home residential treatment center on Old Memorial Highway. She spent two terms as president of the home's board of directors and served as a trustee emeritus.
One of Mrs. Davis' greatest accomplishments may have been her involvement in moving the Children's Home in the mid 1960s from a small center on Florida Avenue to its 90-acre site today.
The new school will help relieve overcrowding at area elementary schools and will also educate residents of the Children's Home. It will have an additional wing for special needs first-graders and Children's Home residents not ready for the traditional classroom.
Born and raised in Tampa, Mrs. Davis began her lifelong devotion to charity after attending what was then called Florida State College for Women (which later became Florida State University), McMullen said. Her father, Oscar Augustus Ayala, a successful owner of an insurance company, told her she did not have to work.
She devoted herself to charity and raised a family.
The president of the Children's Home, the 112-year-old charity, said Mrs. Davis had a profound impact on the organization.
"I'd rank her next to the founder as probably the most important person we've ever had," said Gerard Veneman. "She's really the grand dame in our eyes."
For nearly 40 years, Mrs. Davis served on various boards for the Children's Home. She and her husband, Sam, helped close a deal with the city that gave the organization its current home. She helped raise millions of dollars in donations.
Today, the Children's Home has a $13.5-million budget and a $17-million endowment - much of it the result of connections Mrs. Davis made to wealthy philanthropists, Veneman said. It serves 3,000 abused and neglected children a year, and 90 children are in the residential program.
"She was able to draw people with wealth and interest to our organization," Veneman said. "She modernized us."
After he met her four years ago, Veneman said he was often awed by her tireless energy.
"She was in her late 80s, but she seemed no older than 65," he said. "She had the type of personality that made people want to be around her. She was so positive, even though she knew of the suffering going on around her.
"She left a legacy of love and hope for those less fortunate," he said. "She made Tampa Bay a better place to live."
Mrs. Davis leaves two children, daughter Suzy Davis McMullen of Tampa and son Sam Davis Jr. of Orlando; three grandchildren; and a great granddaughter.
Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday at Blount Curry & Roel Funeral Homes, at 605 S MacDill Ave. There will be a memorial service at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Palma Ceia United Methodist Church at 3723 Bay to Bay Blvd. In her memory, the family asks that friends contribute to the Children's Home, the Salvation Army, Helen Ayala Davis Elementary School or a charity of their choice.