Celebrant Pam Meily Vetter


	Celebrating Life Everyone Has A Story...

Phyllis Wallace Davis was born in Clarksville, Tennessee, to Francis and Marvin Wallace in 1949. Her father had an interesting story before Phyllis was born, as he had survived a year as a POW in Germany during World War II. Phyllis was raised with her brother, Tony, in Lincoln Park, Michigan. Their father worked in construction, while their mother was a grocery store department head. Phyllis had a great childhood. She was a good talker who was outgoing. She had a lot of friends and she was active. Phyllis was part of the Teenage Rainbows at the Masonic Temple and she was also a Girl Scout. As a teenager, she really liked to cook and she was good at it. There were vacations for the family to Upper Michigan and Tennessee. She went on to graduate from Lincoln Park High School in 1967. Phyllis married her high school sweetheart Roy Siedhoff in 1969 and they had two children: Chad and Carey. The couple grew apart and divorced in 1975, but they raised the children together and Phyllis was a wonderful mother.

Phyllis was working as a bartender when one of her customers became smitten with her. His name was Kelly Davis. Kelly asked her out over and over again and he was persistent. In fact, Kelly asked Phyllis out for a full year before she finally said yes. Their first date was going to her cousin Allison's wedding. Phyllis and Kelly had a lot in common and they really enjoyed their time together. On weekends, they'd spend time with the kids or go on vacations as a family. After two years of dating, the time seemed right for the couple to marry. It was a bit of a surprise how the marriage happened. Kelly was creative and he started a rumor with all of their friends saying they were getting married. Phyllis went along with it and before they knew it, the night before the wedding had arrived. Phyllis told him, "You never asked me to marry you." So, Kelly got down on one knee and said, "I love everything about you, will you marry me?" She said, "Yes!" The couple wed in Michigan in 1986 and she loved being married to Kelly.

Phyllis was a loving and caring mother. She made special cakes for Chad and Carey's birthdays. One of her specialty cakes was an Upside Down Pineapple Cake. Over the years, she made many pink cakes with pink frosting for Carey and she always made their favorite dinners on their birthdays. She was very supportive of both Chad and Carey's interests. She attended choir events and she liked buying Carey clothes. Every chance she had she bought Chad books to read.

A special California vacation changed the couple's view of the Michigan winters. Phyllis and Kelly enjoyed a vacation to Lake Arrowhead, Venice Beach, and Universal Studios. When the couple returned to Michigan, it was snowing outside and Phyllis never liked the snow. They decided to make a change. Kelly quit his job giving a three-month notice and in March of 1990, he flew to California and soon Phyllis joined him. While Carey visited often from Michigan, Chad relocated six years later to sunny Southern California.

Professionally, Phyllis worked in several jobs through the years. She owned a trucking company and she was a dispatcher for trucks. She was also an accountant and a great communicator in every job. Her most recent position was with the Do It Center for 13 years, where she rose to the position of Manager and later to Accountant at the corporate home office. The Do It Center Company loved her and they were so good to her, going way above and beyond to support her. The family remains grateful for their kindness and support.

Christmas was her favorite holiday, as Phyllis liked to get a real Christmas tree every year and decorate it with silver tinsel. She enjoyed putting up all of the decorations and the lights outside, celebrating the holiday. She also loved to cook a delicious meal for Christmas. For dessert, she made a variety of cookies. She was a great cook and owned dozens of cookbooks. Following her family's New Year's tradition, every year she made sure that the family ate black-eyed peas, collard greens, pork roast, and sauerkraut for health, wealth, and happiness for the year. She also made cornbread the right way by putting it in a skillet and then putting the skillet in the oven to bake. One of her favorite meals was Mazetti, which is a lasagna like dish made with egg noodles and chili powder. She liked eating prime rib, seafood, oysters, and lobster. One of her favorite restaurants was Clancy's in Glendale. When she went to Florida to visit her brother's family, she liked eating grouper and catfish. To celebrate special anniversaries and birthdays, Phyllis and Kelly always went out for seafood.

One of her favorite hobbies was knitting and crocheting, as Phyllis taught herself how to knit and crochet. Over the past 25 years, she made hundreds of knitted slippers and she even made 40 pairs of slippers for Kelly's co-workers as gifts this past Christmas. Phyllis enjoyed talking with her brother, Tony, by phone, as she jokingly nicknamed him "Charlie." She liked hearing about the history of the family and talking about old times with the family in Tennessee and Michigan. Phyllis was a big reader who adored Harlequin Romance novels. She owned hundreds of books as she enjoyed the storylines. Phyllis liked traditional hymns, gospel music and she was especially fond of music by Elvis Presley and the Beach Boys. One of her favorite TV shows was The Biggest Loser and she enjoyed watching classic films on the AMC channel. With a love for collections, Phyllis collected dolls, little figurines, and Egyptian elephants. She followed in her mother's footsteps in collecting dolls, by growing her collection to hundreds of dolls. She encouraged Chad and Carey to create their own collections, as she bought Chad beer steins and she gave Carey collectible dolls. Phyllis also loved animals, especially her cat, ET, and her dog, Duke.

There were many Davis family vacations for Phyllis and Kelly to Florida, Alaska, Hawaii, Mexico and Lake Arrowhead. Phyllis loved Kelly's mom and dad, Liz and Bill Davis, and she made a big impact on the Davis family. She created special bonds with all of them on these family vacations and during the yearly holidays. All of her nieces and nephews also had a special rapport with their aunt Phyllis and were always eager to spend time with her.

Every Friday night, Phyllis got into bed in the evening and asked Kelly what they were going to do during the weekend. They'd make plans to go shopping or they'd use their annual passes to go to Universal Studios. They also liked to go to The Grove, the Farmer's Market, and the Montrose arts and craft shows.

Phyllis loved all of her grandchildren. The grandkids called her "Grandma" or "Grammy," while they called Kelly "Grandpa." She did arts and crafts with her grandchildren and she liked taking them shopping. She was teaching Paige how to bake and cook and over the past few years, she also helped Paige in Girl Scouts. The best part of her life was her family and Phyllis said, "I love you," to her family a lot. In fact, her children couldn't say goodbye on the phone without her saying "I love you." If those words were missed, she called you back to say it one more time. Phyllis was a fighter and for more than 10 years she fought breast cancer. She even made the time to give other cancer patients a pep talk, encouraging them to fight and beat cancer. And, she was everybody's mom. All of the kids at the Do It Center called her "Mom." Mark DeRoo, a long-time friend of the family, captured Phyllis' spirit in life by saying, "Whomever Phyllis met, their lives were made better."

In her closing hours, Phyllis was surrounded by her family. They held her hands and told her, "I love you." The last things that Phyllis heard were the voices of love from her family. Phyllis Davis will be remembered as caring and loving to anyone and everyone. She would want her family to feel she's in a better place and she wouldn't want anyone to feel sad. She would want everyone to move on, live their lives and be happy. She even comforted her family and told them that she'd be together again with her mother and father. Phyllis was raised Baptist and her faith in God was strong, as she believed in Heaven. She read the Bible often and her favorite scripture was the 23rd Psalm. Her family believes that she is at peace and one day they will be reunited with her again. Her family will miss her phone calls, her love of life, and everything about her. Honoring her wishes, Phyllis will be laid to rest in a crypt with a pair of her knitted slippers and a special daisy by her side.

Phyllis was preceded in death by her parents Francis and Marvin. She is loved and remembered by her husband Kelly; son Chad and daughter-in-law Rhonda; daughter Carey and son-in-law Jimmy; grandchildren Michael, Daniel, Paige, Ashley, Kaitlyn, Emma, and James; brother Tony and sister-in-law Reta; niece Joy; nephew Heath; extended relatives and many friends.