LANCASTER—Mabel Ray Davis passed away late Wednesday night, August 30, 2017, in her home with her daughter by her side.
Mabel was born in Washington, D.C., on June 19, 1933. She lived most of her life in the Norfolk/Virginia Beach area until moving to Lancaster County in 2000. She began attending St. Mary’s Whitechapel in January 2001. She was a member of the choir and altar guild.
Mabel loved her home in Lancaster and spent many hours working in her garden and taking care of her animals. She started playing tennis in her mid-forties and continued to play until her first hip replacement sidelined her. The only thing wicked about her was her forehand.
Mabel retired from the Civil Service after approximately 32 years with the U.S. Navy. She had 38 years of experience in the human resources field. She was principal classifier briefly for Navy Public Works Center in Norfolk, then transferred to Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach as the principal classifier. She was later made head of the operations division which included employment and position classification functions. Upon consolidation of all human resources functions in the Tidewater Area, she was transferred to the human resources office in Norfolk from which she later retired. She was employed for nine years on a part-time basis as a human resources consultant.
Mabel is survived by her daughter, Betsy Davis; her siblings, Joan Hayes and husband, Charles, William Ray and wife, Suzanne, Virginia Paradise and husband, John, and sister-in-law Elizabeth Ray, as well as 10 nieces and nephews and seven grandnieces and grandnephews.
Mabel was very devoted to her family and gained great joy from loving all and from the love they returned to her.
Her family would like to thank Dr. Steinberg and all the staff at the RGH Cancer Center for giving Mabel a few more good years. Betsy would also like to thank Mabel’s hospice nurses and caregivers during the last few weeks of her life. Your kindness, patience, skill and good humor were gifts to both of us and will always be treasured.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, September 16, at St. Mary’s Whitechapel Episcopal Church, 5940 White Chapel Road, Lancaster, VA 22503.
In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the River Road Food Pantry, or the Northumberland County Animal Shelter.
