John Aaron ‘Jack’ Davis Jr.

Sept. 30, 1928 – Aug. 6, 2024

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John A. “Jack” Davis Jr., was born in Oak Park, Ill., on Sept. 30, 1928, to J. Aaron and Corinne Davis. From an early age, his musical prowess was noticed and fostered by his musician parents, and he began playing the saxophone at age 9. He became quite accomplished on the sax, clarinet and the piano, and began sitting in with local bands at an early age. It was during this time that he began to learn to quote numerous other songs while improvising his jazz solos. This led to a lifelong love of jazz as well as other genres of music. Jack was also an entertaining singer and pianist so it wasn’t long before he had to determine whether music would become his livelihood or if he would have to pursue other avenues. He opted for higher education and, shortly after being drafted and doing his military service stateside in the Army band, he used the GI Bill for his tuition through three degrees: bachelor’s (University of Iowa), master’s (Penn State) and ultimately, his Ph.D. (Syracuse). While studying at Iowa, he met Nina Maxine Tucker in June of 1951. It was a bit of a whirlwind romance, and they married in December of that same year. Both were active in the church, music and education.

In 1965, after completing his Ph.D. in audio-visual, Jack was courted by a number of universities but felt that the best place for him and Nina to raise their family was at Washington State University in Pullman. This agricultural school and town offered the best of all their worlds: a tight-knit church community, a burgeoning music scene and, most importantly to Jack, the opportunity for Nina to continue her education and become a teacher. By this time, there were three other mouths to feed: Shelby June, Michael Crit “M. Crit” and Jacquelyn “Jaci” Carroll. The town of Pullman boasted a community of approximately 9,000 people so the town itself was small and welcoming. WSU added another 15,000 to 20,000 students so the family flourished in this smaller community. Jack was active at the university and continued to make a name for himself in the audio-visual/instructional media services domain nationwide, while Nina returned to finish her degree in 1968 and began teaching sixth grade in 1972. Jack also continued playing in jazz bands: The Davis/Jarvis Trio and the Pullman Community Band. By this time, all of the Davis kids were active in music, art, theater, school and church activities and the family expanded by the addition of Jack’s parents, who moved from Iowa in 1968 to be nearer the Davis Clan.

In the 1990s, Jack and Nina, now empty-nesters, decided to retire and travel the country. They had many friends in many different states and enjoyed “tootling” around in their RV (actually three different RVs over the years). In the late ’90s, they visited Palm Springs and found a community that seemed to check off all of the boxes: an active church, United Methodist Church of Palm Springs, an active WSU Cougar Club and a wonderful and thriving music community, which embraced both Jack and Nina: Jack as a jazz musician and Nina as a singer in numerous choirs and as a soloist. They sold their RV, purchased a space and manufactured home in a beautiful park in Desert Hot Springs and that remained their home until 2017. Unfortunately, in 2009, Jack was diagnosed with an unusual and rare form of dementia called Primary Progressive Aphasia which affected the frontal lobe, primarily the communication center of the brain. What began as a few stumbles in conversation gradually became an inability to communicate, understand, read or write. In 2017, Jack was also diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. At around that same time, they decided to leave their lovely home in Desert Hot Springs and relocated to The Palms of La Quinta, an assisted living facility that also had a memory care wing. They both lived the rest of their lives at The Palms, Nina passing from complications from colon cancer in 2022 and Jack passing on Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024 — exactly 25 months to the day of Nina’s passing. They were married for 70 years.

Jack leaves behind his daughter Shelby, his son, Michael Crit, daughter-in-law, Michele Kenzy-Davis and his daughter, Jaci Davis. He also leaves behind six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

A memorial service has been planned for both Jack and Nina on Saturday, May 31, in Pullman.