Marybelle Davis

Marybelle Davis, 89, of Manhattan, Kansas, formerly of Oak Hills, California, died peacefully on Sunday, June 25, 2023, at her home with family holding her hands. She moved to Kansas two years ago to be close to family but was a California girl through and through.

Marybelle was born July 5, 1933, in San Diego, California, the only child of Frederick E. VonMeeden, Jr. and Marjorie Gladiola (Talley) VonMeeden. She grew up in San Diego, California attending school in La Jolla for most of her education. Just before her senior year of high school she moved overseas with her mother and stepfather to Japan where she graduated from Tokyo American High School in 1951.  While attending school in Japan, she met her future husband, who was instantly smitten with her. After graduation, Marybelle returned to San Diego, enrolling in college at San Diego State University. She didn't attend SDSU for very long before marrying Jackie Lawrence Davis on September 24, 1951, at the Wee Kirk O' the Heather Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas Nevada. They were married almost sixty-three years when Jack preceded her in death on March 4, 2016.

During their marriage, Marybelle and Jack travelled the world through Jack's work with Bechtel Corporation. They moved wherever the job took them, and they lived in numerous locations over the years, both state-side and abroad. Marybelle was a mother before anything else; she was an accomplished homemaker, ensuring wherever they lived the family was comfortable and happy. Marybelle was a member of the Order of the Eastern Star, a Cub Scout leader, and an active member of the Bechtel Wives, a group that helped families new to Bechtel with the challenges of working for a world-wide construction company.  In their retirement years, Jack and Marybelle settled in Oak Hills California where they built their dream home to receive family and friends and throw the best parties around.  She and Jack were well known for holding an annual “Pig Roast” at their desert home, where as many as a couple hundred people would amass for a weekend of live music, and a in-ground, pit-cooked, whole hog with all the fixings. Family and friends from near and far came out en masse for the event. Over the years, Marybelle and Jack were members of the High Desert Racers, racing dune buggies and land-speed cars, and they also enjoyed taking their classic 1931 Dodge Brothers car "Miss Marybelle" around to car shows and driving in parades. They enjoyed camping in their motorhome with their usual crew of friends and traveled often to Mexico, spending many fun times in San Felipe, Baja, and Puerto Peñasco. Marybelle loved to crochet and knit, was an avid bowler, hosted Bunco and other card games at her home with friends and was a crack shot having been on the rifle team as a Sophomore in High School. She was an avid collector of Wizard of Oz memorabilia, and was in absolute heaven when she got to visit the Oz Museum in Wamego. She loved a good martini with olives and she will be sorely missed.

Marybelle is survived by her sons; David L. Davis (Lynn), Jeffersonville, Indiana and Curtiss L. Davis, Manhattan, Kansas; five grandchildren and sixteen great-grandchildren; and her daughter-in-law, Pamalla Davis, Vallejo, California.  She was preceded in death by her parents, her son, Richard Lee Davis, and her daughter-in-law, Lori Davis.

Marybelle will be entombed next to Jackie at Desert View Memorial Park in Victorville, California.
Online condolences may be made at www.campanellastewart.com.