Name | Raymond Charles “Ray” DAVENPORT [5, 6] | |
Born | 5 May 1926 | Rockville Centre, New York |
Gender | Male | |
HIST | of Sumter, South Carolina RAYMOND DAVENPORT Posted Tuesday, January 19, 2016 6:00 am Raymond "Ray" Charles Davenport died at age 89 on Saturday, Jan. 16, 2016, at Palmetto Health Tuomey. He was predeceased by his wife, Lula Kate Davenport. Born in Rockville Centre, New York, he was the son of the late Raymond Forbes Davenport and the late Ruth Barr Davenport. Surviving are: his children, Susan Elizabeth Davenport, Raymond Forbes Davenport II (Mary Ellen) and Louise Davenport Fudger (Jack), all of Sumter; an honorary son, Edward Cribb (Linda) of North Carolina; five grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and three sisters, Marcia Davenport of Florida, Janice Collins of Idaho and Alice Amman of New York. Davenport was a veteran of World War II and Korea. Initially stationed at Shaw Field in Sumter, he met his wife of 68 years, Lula Kate Chatham, who was a cadet nurse in training at Tuomey Hospital School of Nursing. She graduated from Tuomey in 1945 and later received her bachelor of science in nursing degree from the University of South Carolina. She retired from nursing from the Sumter County Health Department (DHEC). Davenport graduated from The Art School, Pratt Institute, New York City, and began his art career as a free-lance commercial artist. After moving to South Carolina and acquiring 24 years in this field, he redirected his energies to fine art. His work has received numerous awards nationwide and is found in the collections of President Ronald Reagan and the SC Permanent Collection. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 24, at St. James Lutheran Church with the Rev. Keith Getz officiating. Burial will follow at Evergreen Memorial Park Cemetery. Grandsons and nephews will serve as pallbearers. The family will receive friends from 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday at Elmore Hill McCreight Funeral Home. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to St. James Lutheran School, 1137 Alice Drive, Sumter, SC 29150; Sumter County Gallery of Art, PO Box 1316, Sumter, SC 29151; or Tuomey Foundation Hospice Services, 102 N. Main St., Sumter, SC 29150. Online condolences may be sent to www.sumterfunerals.com Elmore Hill McCreight Funeral Home & Crematory, 221 Broad St., Sumter, is in charge of the arrangements. (803) 775-9386. One more tribute to Ray Davenport Posted Sunday, January 24, 2016 6:00 am BY HUBERT OSTEEN Wallie Jones posted a nice tribute to the late Ray Davenport in his Friday letter to the editor. However, there is one factual correction I must make to his letter: He wrote in part: "After reading everything else in the paper first, I joyously and sadly read the wonderful tributes. Sadness because I knew there would probably be no more written tributes to Ray Davenport ..." Wrong, Wallie; there's one more tribute: Mine. I wanted to join the parade of Ray Davenport admirers who mourn his passing this week. So here it is. My family and I have had a long history with Ray. I first knew him as a graphics designer at the Osteen-Davis school/office supplies and commercial printing company on West Liberty Street founded by my father and Joe Ed Davis. Ray contributed mightily to that business with his design skills in preparing print products for local businesses. To mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of The Item, he even created a special flag in 1994. From there he went on to establish his own business as a freelance artist whose paintings in all mediums earned him numerous awards for his creativity in the visual arts. Many homes in Sumter proudly display works by Ray, including mine. One of his works is a painting of my home, and another is a beautiful acrylic painting of an old buggy in a field at sunset. All of the accolades that Ray received after his death were richly deserved. He was one of the good guys whom I never saw with a frown on his face. To the contrary, he was a warm, cheerful, upbeat, generous and delightful human being. Every time I saw him, he made the day better for me. To have him as a friend was a blessing. He was not a South Carolina native, but he became one of us in a short amount of time and stood the test of time in so many important ways helping make Sumter a better community because of his presence. In the time he spent with us, he became a treasure, one that will truly be missed. Reach Hubert D. Osteen Jr. at hubert@theitem.com. RAYMOND ‘RAY’ DAVENPORT • 1926 - 2016 'He'll be missed from this world' Friends recall Sumter artist Posted Thursday, January 21, 2016 6:00 am With last Saturday's passing of Ray Davenport, Sumter lost one of its greatest artists, and many local artists and other residents lost one of their best friends. Sumter Little Theatre Director Emerita Katie Damron, Davenport and a few others started the Sumter Artists' Guild in 1965 as way for local artists to get to know one another and share ideas. They remained close friends until his death Jan. 16. "He was the kind of person that if you didn't see each other for a good while, you were still good friends," Damron said. "He's one of the most true-blue people you'd ever know. Like his artwork, he's honest and genuine. I just can't believe he's gone. He'll be missed from this world." The Rev. Keith Getz of St. James Lutheran Church, who was Davenport's pastor, agreed. "Ray Davenport was a man of strong faith in Christ and extremely dedicated to the church," Getz said. "He had an abundant, giving, cruciform heart. Ray possessed the unique ability to see the extraordinary beauty of God's creation in the ordinary and had the talent to capture that beauty in his amazing art. He will be greatly missed." While most people knew Davenport primarily through his art, his children, Raymond, Susan and Louise, knew him more intimately. Daughter Louise Davenport Fudger said her father at home was similar to "the same way people knew him." A "wonderful, incredible dad," she said. "He was funny, always joking, sweet, easygoing and super, super sweet." She recalled that "when we were little and living in that tiny house on Milton, we had a little blackboard in the kitchen. We children would make marks on it at night, and the next morning, there would be a little cartoon." Davenport was always the kind of man who was able to do almost anything, Fudger said. "Mama always wanted the perfect Christmas tree," she said, "and Daddy would cut limbs off and drill holes and make the most beautiful tree. "He could fix your car and anything in the house. Daddy would dream up things, make a drawing and then build them." Fudger remembers her father for his artistic talent and creativity, too. "We were always fascinated by the way he was able to draw, and we were very respectful of his paint, brushes and other supplies," she said. "I think we thought all fathers could do what he did." The family will remember him as "a giving spirit," Fudger said. "We had a cousin who was in an automobile accident as a child and in the hospital for weeks," she said. "Daddy would go and stay with him one night a week and entertain him, keep his spirits up. He was like that for other people, too, not just family." Always "vivacious, he loved to sing," Fudger said. "And he could see beauty in everything." While Susan Davenport shares many of her sister's memories, she also related that their father loved singing as much as he did art. "He sang in the (St. James Lutheran) church choir all my life," she said. "We never got to sit with Daddy in church because he was always singing." Her father also sang with the Sumter Civic Chorale and the Palmetto Mastersingers, a male ensemble comprising singers from across the state. On Sunday drives, Susan said, "Daddy carried a camera everywhere we went. We got used to him pulling over or turning around and going back to take pictures because he'd noticed the light off the trees or something. He had a huge file of slides he'd use to jog his memory." She added that, "As much as Daddy achieved, it was our mother (Lula Kate Davenport, who died in November 2015) who was the driving force." In her parents' 68 years of marriage, she said, "It was Mother who would find a way to make it possible. We never had a lot of money, and she'd change the budget so he could do the things he wanted to do. Without her help and encouragement, I don't know if he'd have ever achieved as much as he did." Ray Davenport was encouraging to his children, too, "but he never made a big deal of pushing us," Susan said. "He just expected us to do things on our own. He'd say, 'You can do that,' and he'd give us guidance. He was there if we needed him, though. I think we all turned out to be pretty self-sufficient." Davenport had the love and friendship of many other artists, as well. Boyd Saunders, distinguished professor emeritus at University of South Carolina (Columbia) Department of Art, said, "I knew Ray as professional colleague, student and friend. Ray was an excellent artist. His approach to art was similar to his approach to life: calm, ordered, methodical and closely structured. There was always something innately reassuring about this. "I still remember when he felt he needed a printing press to print his original works; rather than buy one, he simply built his own. This piece of machinery reflected the same skill and finish that he brought to his art. After the construction of the press was completed, he invited a group of friends and fellow artists to a party to present his press to the world. It was a memorable event." Carole Carberry, president of the Sumter Artists' Guild, knew Davenport for almost three decades. "Ray was my first and best artist friend in the Sumter Artists' Guild," she said. "He introduced himself to me 29 years ago, after my first guild meeting. Our personalities just clicked. My family clicked with Ray as well. It was always a good time with this delightful friend, whether as show neighbors at Piccolo Spoleto or sharing our beach area home with him and Lu during Atalaya Festivals. "As an artist, Ray was generous in sharing what he knew and what he had figured out. He demonstrated and spoke for the Artists' Guild many times, showing his technique for cast paper and describing his system for cataloging thousands of photos that were reference material for his detailed, realistic paintings." She remembers one of Davenport's demonstrations particularly well. "(This) talk, in particular, struck a chord for me," Carberry said. "It was about entering art competitions, where Ray was a consistent winner. 'Always do your best,' Ray said. Though he was specifically talking about artwork, I believe it was a philosophy that he applied to every endeavor in his life. I would like to call it The Ray Davenport Philosophy - Always Do Your Best!" It was her father's faith that guided him in his work and his relationships, Susan Davenport said. "He was very, very moral, but he was not judgmental," she said. "He was very active in his church, but he didn't wear Jesus on his shoulder. You knew by the way he lived that he was a moral Christian." Services for Ray Davenport will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday at St. James Lutheran Church, 1137 Alice Drive, with burial following at Evergreen Memorial Cemetery. His family will receive friends from 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday at Elmore Hill McCreight Funeral Home, 221 Broad St., Sumter. — Ivy Moore [1, 2, 3, 5] | |
MILI | He was a veteran of World War II and Korea. He was initially stationed at Shaw Field in Sumter, South Carolina. [1] | |
_UID | F10A31F5730D4E3E99F6CDB46C4BB345EC02 | |
Died | 16 Jan 2016 | Palmetto Health Tuomey, Sumter, Sumter County, South Carolina [4] |
Buried | 24 Jan 2016 | Evergreen Memoral Park Cemetery, Sumter, Sumter County, South Carolina [1] |
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Person ID | I252878 | Singleton and other families |
Last Modified | 13 May 2022 |
Father | Raymond Forbes DAVENPORT, d. Bef 16 Jan 2016 | |
Mother | Ruth BARR, d. Bef 16 Jan 2016 | |
_UID | 234F89D3D4E2426C9421DD2E5B11A0706EF6 | |
Family ID | F205187 | Group Sheet | Family Chart |
Family | Lula Kate “Lu” CHATHAM, b. 4 Nov 1926, Sumter, Sumter County, South Carolina , d. 9 Nov 2015 (Age 89 years) | |||||||
Married | 1947 [1] | |||||||
_UID | 66DD1BC314964B2DB5C71075F04A0CCA54DB | |||||||
Children |
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Last Modified | 13 May 2022 | |||||||
Family ID | F170607 | Group Sheet | Family Chart |
Sources |