It was the Rev. Gregory Davis’ desire for change that took him to the DeKalb County school board’s budget hearing last week.
“He knew he could help make things better,” said his eldest daughter, Teaonne Davis of Atlanta. “That’s why he went to all of the meetings and participated in all of the organizations that he did.”
In the nearly seven years Gregory Davis had been a member of the Organization of DeKalb Educators, he became known as a passionate advocate for education.
“He was not afraid to speak up,” said ODE president David Schutten. “He gave voice to a lot of the concerns with buses and bus drivers.”
For the past 13 years Davis was a bus mechanic for the school system. Even though his three daughters were beyond school age, he had a father’s concern about education in DeKalb County, his eldest daughter said.
Gregory Kane Davis of Stone Mountain died suddenly after he collapsed June 3 at the DeKalb school board budget meeting. He was 51.
A funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m. Tuesday at Saint Philip AME Church, Atlanta. Burial will follow at Georgia National Cemetery. Gregory B. Levett & Sons Funeral Homes & Crematory, Avondale-Scottdale Chapel, is in charge of arrangements.
His efforts to effect change in DeKalb were recognized by interim Superintendent Michael Thurmond, who is expected to speak at the funeral. The superintendent said Davis helped set up a meeting with people from the system’s transportation department that had a direct impact on his budget recommendations.
Born in Germany on the Hahn Air Base, Davis came to Atlanta from Anaheim, Calif., in the mid-1990s with his then-wife and three daughters. He had always worked as a mechanic, his daughter said, and before he worked for the school system, he was a bus mechanic for Greyhound.
“People who knew he was a mechanic knew they could ask him for help, and get it,” said James Fluellen, a friend for more than a decade. “And he’d give them his best advice on how to get done what they needed, if he couldn’t do it.”
Davis, who served in the Marines in the 1980s, was also an ordained minister. He was known for his church involvement, especially with youth, said Fluellen.
“He always wanted to help and get in the middle of what was going on,” Fluellen said. “He was just ready to do it.”
In addition to his eldest daughter, Davis is survived by daughters Ivory Davis and JaLisa Davis of Atlanta; sisters Lisa Davis, Kim Davis, Anita Morrell and Jonnell Bailey; brothers James Davis Jr. and Thomas Davis; and three grandchildren.
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