Oba "Leon" Davis

  Oba Leon Davis “Leon,” 87, of Weatherford, Texas, passed from this life August 19, 2019. He resided in a nursing facility these past several years and passed away of natural causes.

  Leon was born August 2, 1932, in Paradise, Texas, to parents Henry and Ena Davis. He lived a large part of his childhood in the Paradise area and had countless stories of life in a large family and friends he met attending school, which he could still recount vividly until the end of his life. He lived in Fort Worth after marriage to S. Jane Phillips in 1952, where they raised three children. 

  He worked the majority of his years for Santa Fe Railroad as a switchman and made lifelong friends there. Leon moved to Weatherford in the early 1970’s, then to Granbury in 1990. Everywhere he lived, he made friends easily, yet held onto the ones he already had.
Leon loved to be active, had a thirst for adventure, and never backed away from hard work. He “tinkered” in his shop all of his life, had a herd of cows, cleared acres of land, built a house, had a “kit car” that he rode in parades in Granbury. He also rode motorcycles, jet skis, fished, and traveled with his best friends.

  Leon is survived by a daughter, Rebecca (Becky) Vicknair and husband, John; eight grandchildren, Shannon Robertson and wife, Christi, Stephanie Robertson, Rachel McCune and husband, Billy, Natalie Welch, Zack Turnham and wife, Lindsay, Chelsea Peterson and husband, Matthew, and Charlea Leger and husband, Robert, and Michelle Moeller. 

  He has 12 great-grandchildren; as well as his sister, Darlene Clemens, who was his dearest friend until the very end is his only remaining sibling. He also has a host of nieces, nephews, cousins and other relatives, numerous friends, and a “fan club” of staff at the nursing facilities he lived in over the last several years.

  Leon was preceded in death by his son, David Glenn Davis in 2001; his daughter, Kimberly Moreno (Turnham) in 2008; and siblings, Jo Hatley, William Neighbors, Hoyt Davis, Lowell Davis, Virginia Cordrey, and Clyde Davis.

  A celebration of his life will take place August 22, 2019, at Couts Memorial United Methodist Church, 802 N Elm Street, in Weatherford, Texas, with a visitation at 10:00 a.m., and service at 11:00 a.m.

  There is no memorial fund established, however, the family asks that donations in lieu of flowers be made to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (www.bcrf.org) in memory of his beloved daughter Kimberly Moreno. It broke his heart to lose her to this terrible cancer.

  Leon had a kind and tender heart all his life, and countless people were impacted by his compassion. In 2014, he accepted Christ, and although he couldn’t attend a regular “church,” he was baptized, attended services held in the nursing home on Sundays, and also loved to participate in the Thursday evening singing with a group of talented volunteers while in Alvarado.

  If his life could be summed up to just a few words, it would be “kindness always.” He will be missed greatly by all who knew him.