Jean Davis, leader in Sea Cliff volunteer community, dies at 95

Local folks often greeted Jean Davis with a friendly hello as she walked Sea Cliff’s streets. An active community volunteer, she knew many people, who were happy to chat with her about the latest goings-on, her daughter, Dorean Davis, said. 

Now many local residents are mourning Davis, who died on Feb. 26. She was 95.

A lifelong Sea Cliff resident, Davis was born in her Maple Avenue home on Dec. 1, 1924, the only child of Dorothy and William Thackeray. After she graduated from Sea Cliff High School in 1943, she worked in the drafting department of the Sperry Corporation in Brooklyn. There she met Clifford Davis, an engineer from Montana, whom she married in 1944.

Together, Jean and Clifford settled in Sea Cliff and had two children — Gary, in 1945, and Dorean, in 1950. Dorean said her parents’ marriage was “incredibly cemented.” They did everything together, she said, serving on many village committees over the years and receiving the White Cap Award from the village in recognition of their constant volunteer work. 

“They were inseparable,” Dorean said. “It’s hard for me to think of one without the other.”

Davis did not hold a regular job most of her married life, but she was busy as an artist and volunteer. Lilli Scott, Davis’s friend for more than 60 years, said Davis set up two large looms in her home and wove shawls and dresses with wool she acquired traveling in Europe. Eventually, she gave weaving lessons, which Scott said epitomized her constant evolution as a person.

“She was always reinventing herself,” Scott said. “There was always something new to get excited about.”

Her passion for art played a large role in the Davises’ foray into volunteerism. In the early 1960s, she helped organize the Square Mile of Art, which turned downtown Sea Cliff into a giant art gallery. Davis collected art from dozens of local artists, Scott said, and displayed their work in the village’s many storefronts. Scott said the event was wildly successful, and written up in The New York Times. The event continues today as the Sea Cliff Fair.

Dorean said her mother was matriarchal and adept at running events and groups, concentrating on the betterment of the village she adored. “I think she just liked being in the position to do things, and she loved Sea Cliff,” she said. “Sea Cliff was everything to her.”

Her love for the village never wavered as Davis continued to volunteer in various capacities throughout her life. She was perhaps best known as a devoted member of the Beautification Committee, which is dedicated to keeping Sea Cliff’s natural beauty intact.

Barbara Sinenberg served on the committee as well, meeting Davis for the first time in 1994. She described Davis as her mentor, teaching her and other community members all there is to know about gardening and caring for one’s property. This continued well into her 80s, even after Clifford died of lung disease in 2010 at 92.

Village Administrator Bruce Kennedy lived across the street from Davis for 17 years. He recalled a time when he was walking his dog down the Bathway Steps and found Scott and Davis, then in her late 80s, plucking weeds from the ground along the path. Scott asked Davis if she remembered when they had crowds join them in weeding, and Davis replied, “They got old,” Kennedy recalled.

Kennedy said her matter-of-fact response was a classic example of Davis’s willingness to tell the unvarnished truth. “She was smart, vibrant, bright, matter-of-fact [and] always told the truth, even if you didn’t want to hear it,” he said. “Jean was someone you wouldn’t want to talk to if you didn’t want to know the truth about it.”

Over her many years of living in Sea Cliff, Scott said, Davis acquired an unrivaled storehouse of knowledge about the village. This was recognized by Kennedy during his tenure as mayor, when he named Davis the village historian in the early 2010s.

After her appointment, she pored over old newspapers like the Brooklyn Eagle and Sea Cliff Bulletin, learning about the village’s history and writing down whatever information she found valuable. Scott said one could sit with Davis for hours, and she would just tell stories about the village’s past off the top of her head. Much of her writing on Sea Cliff’s history is found in the Sea Cliff Village Library and the Village Museum for future generations to examine.

Davis thought of Sea Cliff as a unique place, Dorean said. Her mother, she said, felt a sense of urgency to help Sea Cliff maintain its identity as a place rich in history, art and natural beauty. Only her love for people exceeded her affection for the village, Dorean said.