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Obituary for Henry Allen Davis

Henry Allen  Davis
H. A. Davis was born on February 26, 1929, to Lenward and Rosie Davis in Georgetown, Georgia, a rural community that sits directly across the Chattahoochee River from Eufaula, Alabama. Going back to at least the 1850s, Davises have lived in, or near, one or the other of these small communities.

His Georgetown years mostly were spent helping his father on their rented farm while living in close proximity to his father’s brothers and sisters and their families.

After leaving school during the 9th grade to go to work full time, he held several jobs in Eufaula, usually two at a time. While simultaneously working at a car dealership and a sawmill, he first saw Alberta Woods from the back of the sawmill’s truck. Smitten, he married her in 1949, and over the years three sons and one daughter joined the family.

Until 1951, he and Alberta lived mostly in Eufaula, during which time he changed his name from “H.A.” to “Henry Allen.” Joining the U.S. Air Force that year, he served honorably for 20 years, including 4 ½ years overseas and two postings in Alaska, where he received the Holy Ghost on Christmas Day, 1960, and where some years later, he was called to preach.

Pastor Davis retired from the Air Force in 1971, joined Alberta and the children in Topeka, and began working at the Topeka Goodyear factory. In addition to beginning to work at Goodyear, one of the first actions he took upon moving to Topeka was, with Alberta’s help, to purchase Lafayette Avenue land and an in-place foundation from another minister. He had a vision to build a church, inspired by the shape of an arc, to be called “Emmanuel Temple,” which he did, exclusively using their money.

After retiring from Goodyear in the early 90s, he almost solely devoted his time and life to Emmanuel Temple: developing a congregation; increasing facility size; making improvements; and acquiring more land in proximity to the church. Over the course of some 45 years, through work and prayer, Pastor Davis and Emmanuel Temple achieved a respected place in the religious and spiritual life of Topeka.

Pastor Henry A. Davis leaves to cherish his memory Alberta, his beloved and treasured wife of 67 years, three sons, one daughter, three grandchildren, an extended family of nearly 30 children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren that he and Alberta raised as their own, two sisters and one brother. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his older brother and sister.

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