Edwina Bell Davis

Edwina Bell Davis, 96, died of natural causes Monday, September 13, 2021, at The Renaissance on Peachtree. Born June 8, 1925, in Decatur, Georgia, she was the youngest of three daughters born to Clara Elizabeth Bell Davis and Edwin Davis, Sr.

Miss Davis was a 1946 graduate of Agnes Scott College. She was later a Sloan-Rockefeller Fellow in the Advanced Science Writing Program at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and received a Master of Arts degree in English from Georgia State College (now University.)

She started her career as a reporter, and then science editor, for The Atlanta Journal and wrote a weekly column, Science Scope. Following this, she became Emory University’s first science editor, and then, for 25 years, was a supervisor for the editorial staff at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. During her long career as a science writer, she received many accolades from the health and medical communities for her work.

After her retirement in 1992, Miss Davis published a book titled Eight Houses and a Building In or Near Greensboro, Georgia, 2002 and Samuel Davis’ Descendants, First and Second Generations. Born three months after her father’s death, she dedicated the book to “The father I have loved, but never knew.”

Miss Davis was a lifelong resident of Decatur and a well-known figure there. She lived in the house where she was born, which is the last private residence on the Agnes Scott campus. As a fiercely independent woman, she could be seen, up until the age of 94, driving around town in her 50-year-old yellow Volkswagen Bug with a stick shift. She valued education above material things and once turned down the offer of a new car when a cousin offered to buy one for her own safety. Also, to the horror of her family, she insisted on climbing ladders to the roof to clean out her gutters. No amount of pleading would stop her. Unstoppable and fearless, she recently painted her new garage. She was a long-time member of Peachtree Presbyterian Church where she forged many close friendships.

Her family is grateful to have had the wonderful caregivers Mary Chileshe and Anna Banda helping her daily in addition to the staff at Renaissance. She was also helped and visited frequently by her dear friends Ruthanne Suttles and Lee Smith, both of Atlanta.

Miss Davis was preceded in death by her father, Edwin Davis, Sr.; her mother, Clara Elizabeth Bell Davis; her two sisters, Virginia Davis Wheeler and Josephine Davis Inman; her half-sister, Corribel Davis McLendon and her half-brother, Edwin Davis, Jr.

Survivors include a niece, Joan Davis Inman, of Atlanta and Costa Rica; a great-niece, Leslie Pearl of Atlanta; a nephew, Frank Davis Inman and his wife, Laura Black Inman, of Atlanta; a great-niece, Lucy Inman Clifford and her husband Mac Bric Clifford of Atlanta; three great-nephews -- Brian Edwin Wheeler, of Clarkston, Georgia; Frank Davis Inman, Jr., and his wife Laura Brown Inman of Evanston, Illinois, and Allen Craig Inman and his wife Gena Dennard Inman of Atlanta -- and numerous cousins, including Katherine Jane “Kitty” Burgin Eaker, of Waynesville, North Carolina; Martha Davis Barnes, of Atlanta and Hanover, New Hampshire; and Barbara Moore Rumsey, of Denver, Colorado; and several great-great-nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be held Tuesday, September 28, 11 a.m. at Peachtree Presbyterian Church with Reverend Scott Tucker officiating. There will be a private burial in Decatur City Cemetery the day before.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Edwin and Clara Davis Family Scholarship Fund at Agnes Scott College, 141 E. College Ave., Decatur, Ga., 30030; Decatur Presbyterian Church, 205 Sycamore St., Decatur, Ga., 30030; Peachtree Presbyterian Church, 3434 Roswell Rd., NW, Atlanta, Ga, 30305, or a charity of your choice.