Wry, Spry Davis Left Legacy Of Civil, Legal Professionalism

COURTESY
MUG MAYLON T. RICE, Candidate for State Rep. District 85.
COURTESY MUG MAYLON T. RICE, Candidate for State Rep. District 85.

This week, I ask for a personal moment in this column, to remember an icon of yesteryear values, a friend and a friend to many, Boyce Davis.

Boyce Ray Davis, 78, a resident of Lincoln, left this life last Thursday, just as he would say, the New Year was getting started.

He was born May 29, 1938, in Prairie Grove. So to say that Davis knew his way around Northwest Arkansas and especially Western Washington County was wasted breath.

He knew people. He knew where things were, how things happened and often who made those things happen and why.

In an interview years ago, Davis recited his philosophy of life.

"I was raised in a family with the notion that the worth of one's life would be measured by what one did for people with whom you came in contact. I have tried to do that."

Most good things in the area have his fingerprints all over them.

Take for instance the Lincoln Apple Festival. He knew how it started, who made it go, and how much people, deep down love this annual fall gathering.

He also knew when the Lincoln Public Library was selling boxes of homemade Valentine's Day candy. He was good for not just a box -- but a half-dozen or so boxes which he personally distributes to folks in the community whom, as he told me one time: "These are for the folks that need a smile today."

Slight in stature and uncommonly thin, Davis was a giant of a man in many eyes.

He had a knack for story-telling that was unmatched when he was on his game.

Davis was, you see, one of the last of a diminishing generation of real lawyers.

He was not one of those so skilled in the courtroom or in a flurry of paper maneuvers, but a very small, dedicated sect of attorney's who could get people together and get things done. He was a mediator of many cases, but not in the broad sense of mediation skills. He was a common sense attorney.

When he went back to law school as an adult, with a family to take care of and provide for, he was one of the oldest in his classes. But he knew he wanted to be an attorney.

The practice of law has provided me with a means of fulfilling a personal goal or objective of helping others, Davis said.

"The practice of law in America is unique from that in most of the nations on this earth. We have a component of our system that few nations imitate and no nation replicates it."

Davis once told me he, "probably talked as many people out of suing someone over something, than I did in getting them to file lawsuits."

And that was OK with Davis.

He was the progenitor of the fictional "Muddy Fork Bar Association," formed by him and John Everett and Bill Thurman. These three lawyers lived west of the Muddy Fork of the White River, thus, immediately eligible for membership.

Practicing law in Lincoln, just off the Square, for over 40 years, he was always involved in the community.

And he could be a critic of things when boards, councils or organizations strayed from good decisions for the public.

In Arkansas history he will be remember as a delegate to the 8th Constitutional Convention in 1979-80, which designed an improved documents to the 1874 Constitution which serves the state today. It was later rejected by the voters.

After a stint as a reporter for the Northwest Arkansas Times and then buying four weekly regional newspapers, Davis, retired, selling the newspapers. But he penned a weekly column "On The Wry Side" for several years.

He was known for cocking his head to one side, just slightly and flashing a friendly signature grin as you parted ways.

"See you around," he would say.

One day, I hope so.

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General News on 01/11/2017