Island visionary Howard A. Davis Sr. dead at 92

Retired Gen. Howard A. Davis Sr., who helped shape Hilton Head Island through business and civic efforts after rising to assistant chief of staff in the U.S. Air Force, died on Veterans Day at Hilton Head Hospital. He was 92.

The funeral will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at First Presbyterian Church. Burial with full military honors will follow at 4:30 p.m. at Six Oaks Cemetery in Sea Pines.

Davis was a highly decorated World War II hero who moved to the island 32 years ago this week to guide development of Hilton Head Plantation after two banks took it from its original developer, the Sea Pines Co., during a bleak economic time on the island.

In Davis' nine years as president and chief executive, the 4,000-acre development grew from 34 property owners to 3,500.

He often joked about how sparse things looked in 1976. "I had to look around to see if there were any teepees here, since I wasn't sure all the Indians had left," he said.

His success was credited to his innovative model home program. Customers could walk through decorated model homes, then pick from a list of local architects, builders and landscapers to build their dreams. Davis said it took the hassle and stress out of buying, and took the developer from selling real estate into building a community. Davis also cited the early involvement of property owners in "developing the philosophy of the plantation," which boomed in the 1980s, swinging the pendulum of local development northward on the island.

But his legacy in Hilton Head Plantation, where he lived with his wife, Mary Elise, and where he was honored last year when a natural area was improved and named for him, is its feel. He removed more than 10,000 dwelling units from the master plan, many of them condominiums, paring it down from 16,000 to 4,000 units, according to the property owners association.

"Because of him, it's a community," said Peter Kristian, general manager of the Hilton Head Plantation Property Owners Association. "That was his vision, and it worked."

Davis was proud of helping to get the Whooping Crane Conservancy dedicated within the development.

Robert C. Onorato, longtime president of Palmetto Dunes Resort, said, "His rank and demeanor is what held the development community together. He was the glue. We thought his model home program was nuts, but he knew what he wanted to do, and he was a force to be reckoned with."

FOCUS ON YOUTH

Davis may be better known for his civic work -- from co-chairing the successful drive to widen S.C. 170 to tutoring elementary school children struggling to learn to read.

His mother died 12 days after his birth, and the soft-spoken general would credit his brother, teachers and Scout leaders for seeing good in him as a child. That may be why he focused much of his altruistic work on young people.

Davis was president of the Hilton Head Youth Center, a forerunner of today's Boys & Girls Club of Hilton Head Island and the Island Recreation Association.

He was an officer in the Hilton Head Island Rotary Club and a member of the club's committee that established the Gift of Life project, which brings young people from around the world to Hilton Head Hospital for reconstructive surgery they otherwise could never get.

He created Project Take Flight to match volunteer tutors with children in island elementary schools who needed extra help learning to read.

Davis worked to get voter approval in two major referendums to build new schools in fast-growing Beaufort County.

He was a major supporter of building the Island Recreation Center and helped raise money for the Crossings Park.

He was chairman of the Greater Island Committee, vice chairman of the county's Quality Growth Committee, a board member of the Bluffton Area Community Association, a member of the school district's Oversight Committee, and a member of the governor's task force on water pollution. He was an Eagle Scout at 14, and as an adult he served on local examining boards for Eagle Scouts.

He took over leadership of the 1997 United Way of the Lowcountry campaign in a pinch and increased giving on Hilton Head by about 30 percent, said the organization's executive vice president, Jill Briggs.

"He remained a leadership friend ever since," she said.

"I think he saw potential in every human being he met, and particularly children," said Briggs, who along with her father, Max Judge, wrote a biography of Davis. "If Howard Davis took on a project, watch out, because it was going to get done. He was full of ideas, enthusiasm and energy, and he accomplished everything in a way that was right."

He was honored by his community with the Alice Glenn Doughtie Good Citizen Award, and the Chairman's Leadership Award from the Hilton Head Island Foundation.

NATIONAL SERVICE

During World War II, Davis flew 51 missions over northern Africa, Italy, Germany, Austria and Romania. His wartime decorations include two Silver Stars with oak leaf cluster, two Distinguished Flying Crosses with two oak leaf clusters, two Air Medals with five oak leaf clusters, Croix de Guerre with Palme (from France) and 13 other medals, according to his biography, "Gravitas General," published last year by islanders Briggs and Judge.

"The extent to which he will take credit for his service is to say, 'I helped along the way in our country,' " the book says.

He left the service after the war as a lieutenant colonel. He joined Delta Airlines while hoping to be accepted for a Regular Army Commission, even though he had no military college or ROTC training.

The commission came through, and he was sent to the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration in 1947, where he received his master's degree and resumed his 30-year commitment to the military.

By the late 1960s, he was part of the U.S. Air Force top command, where he helped lead the creation and deployment of the F-15 fighter jet.

In 1964, he was promoted to major general and became deputy director of plans at Headquarters Strategic Air Command. He was later elevated to assistant chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force. He became vice commander of the Eighth Air Force in 1968 and retired on Feb. 1, 1970. At his retirement ceremony, Davis was presented with the Distinguished Service Medal, the second highest medal in the Air Force.

FAMILY

Davis was a native of Coshocton, Ohio, and grew up in Canton and Akron, Ohio, the son of a salesman. He worked his way through Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, graduating in the top 10 percent of his class after posting a less-than-stellar academic record in high school.

He died three days short of the 64th anniversary of his marriage to Mary Elise Davis, a native of Marion, S.C.

On Veterans Day last year, Davis appeared before the student body at Hilton Head Preparatory School, where senior Robert Scarminach gave a speech about him, closing with this quote from Davis:

"I've always said that most of my movement up from colonel to major general was probably due to Mary Elise being my wife, and I have a strong feeling about that."

Surviving in addition to his wife are two daughters, Vickie Davis of Bluffton and Cathey Kieffer of Hilton Head Island; a son, Howard Davis Jr. of Hilton Head Island; and four grandchildren, Marianne Merritt of Scottsdale, Ariz., Allan Merritt of Bluffton, Lesley Taylor of Charlotte, and Will Kieffer of Greenville.

The Island Funeral Home and Crematory is in charge of arrangements.