DAVIS (Curry), Patricia
Patricia Curry Davis, of Atlanta, and Highlands, NC, and known to her friends as Pat, died on April 27, 2024, from the long-term effects of Parkinson's Disease. She had lived with Parkinson's for more than 12 years, valiantly dealing with the symptoms and moving forward with her life with courage. She was born on November 8, 1939, to Clarence Ellie and Annabel Dees Curry in Reidsville, Georgia. She was an excellent student and left Reidsville High School after her junior year to matriculate at Mars Hills, then a junior college. She completed her degree at Emory University, graduating in 1960 with a degree in accounting. The Big 8 accounting firms at the time were not hiring women on the professional staff, so she joined Sowell and Harden, a local Atlanta firm. When she was awarded her CPA certificate in 1966, she was the only woman in Georgia to receive one that year. She was always a woman ahead of her time.
She married Charlton Lee Davis, her Mars Hill classmate, in 1960, and they had a long and happy partnership, both in life and in business. After a move to Valdosta, she and Charlie had their own CPA practice which served much of the area. She was and remained on technology's cutting edge. An early adapter of computers in the office, she was tapped by IBM to speak nationally on the value of computers for small businesses and travelled the country to do so. She carried her Palm Pilot with her at all times, long before the rest of us used hand-held technology. That comfort with tech continued to the end with her use of her Apple watch.
While raising her children and practicing accounting, she was also deeply involved in the Valdosta community, serving on the board of the Valwood School which her children attended, and as a board member of the Georgia Conservancy. Pat was a serious gardener and proponent of native plants. At Canterbury Court, where she spent the last 12 years of her life, she was a leader of a group of resident gardeners who built a bog garden on the property and was always consulted for her gardening expertise. She and Charlie were also expert birders and travelled the country to see birds in their native habitat or to see extraordinary migrations, such as the Sandhill cranes on the Platte River in Nebraska.
She was predeceased by Charlie, who died in 2012, as well as by her parents, and a younger sister, Mary Ann, who died in childhood. She is survived by her two children Charlton Lee Davis, Jr. of Marietta, GA, and Holly Schmidt-Davis (Jon) of Pine Lake, GA; and one grandchild, Audrey Schmidt-Davis, whom she loved dearly. She is also survived by her brother, James L. Curry of Atlanta; his wife, Ann; and their children and grandchildren, all of whom loved Aunt Pat.
A service to remember Pat's life will be held at Canterbury Court on May 11, at 3 PM. Those wishing to remember Pat may do so by making contributions to the Georgia Conservancy, which works to ensure that all Georgians and the environment thrive (230 Peachtree St., Suite 2275, Atlanta, GA 30303, www.georgiaconservancy.org) or to a charity of your choice.
