June Davis reflects on 100 years
JACK DEWITT | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 2 months, 1 week AGO
June Davis celebrates her 100th birthday playing mahjong with friends at the Lake City Center. From left, Ronda Vejvoda, Kathy Lupien, Lori Humphries, Davis, Anita Solano and Beryl Germundson.
JACK DeWITT/Press
June Davis was born in Chicago in 1926. A century later, she found herself celebrating her 100th birthday Tuesday in Coeur d'Alene the way she prefers: Surrounded by friends, laughter and the clicking of mahjong tiles.
“I'm a perfect example of having a wonderful family and friends who are in good health,” Davis said at the Lake City Center.
After moving south to Los Angeles at a young age, Davis went to grammar school, junior high school and high school in the city, eventually graduating from the University of Southern California.
"My parents were great," she said.
She married a boy from her town and settled in the San Fernando Valley. Her husband was in the costume jewelry industry and that took the couple to Providence, R.I., enough to keep an apartment there.
She called it the “costume jewelry capital of the world” and looks back on her memories there fondly.
Davis and her husband had a boy, a girl and dogs and called her life “lovely.” Together they enjoyed trips and traveled across the U.S. and Europe.
“I had a lovely life with my family,” she said. “Everybody got along.”
Davis enjoyed 25 years on the water with the Del Rey Yacht Club in Marina Del Rey, where she served as the president of the ladies’ auxiliary.
“Everybody there was great,” she said. “We raised money for charity, went to Catalina often and just had fun.”
After the death of her husband shortly before her 50th anniversary, she moved to Nevada for a short time before moving to Coeur d’Alene to be closer to her daughter and granddaughter.
“It’s amazing how wonderful all the people are. Everybody is considerate and helpful,” she said.
At 100, Davis stays active and social through weekly rituals. For the past nine years, she has met with the same group of women to play mahjong.
They meet twice a week for four-hour sessions. She is known in the group as a “joker magnet,” for her ability to always have a joker tile on her rack.
She also keeps her mind sharp by reading the newspaper and watching golf. Her favorite golfers are Rory McIlroy and Scotty Scheffler.
Davis counts her life as blessed.
“I am very fortunate,” she said.
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