H.C.R. No. 259
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, In the year 1929, the era of the "Roaring 20s" came
to a sudden end, the stock market crashed, and the country slid into
"The Big Depression"; and
WHEREAS, James Alford Davis entered this world on November
14, 1929, the first son of Alford Joseph Davis and Victoria Louise
Wilhelm Davis; he lived on "The Farm" at the Fritz Wilhelm ranch in
northwest Menard County until the fourth grade, when the family
moved to the big city and place of his birth, Menard, Texas; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Davis graduated from Lutheran Concordia
College, located in Austin, in the year 1948; it was at Concordia
that he met his father figure and mentor, George John Beto, a.k.a.
"Walking George," who was a professor and housemaster; and
WHEREAS, In 1952, Mr. Davis graduated from the University of
Houston with a bachelor's degree in business administration and,
with a strong recommendation from the president of the United
States of America, he joined the United States Army; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Davis entered the Bates School of Law at the
University of Houston in 1956, and five years later he successfully
passed the bar exam and was authorized to practice law in the State
of Texas; also in 1956, he and Nancy Helen Hall were joined in holy
matrimony, and as of this date, they have enjoyed 53 years of wedded
bliss; as Pappy likes to say, "1956 was a busy year--got married,
got a job, started law school, and dropped my first kid"; and
WHEREAS, The union between James Alford Davis and Nancy Helen
Hall produced five children--William Keith Davis, in 1956, Charles
Melvin Davis, 1957, John Edward Davis, 1960, Victoria Joanne Davis
Starr, 1960, and Christopher Lee Davis, 1963; and
WHEREAS, In the mid-1960s, Mr. Davis moved his family to
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he worked on the Capline Pipeline
Project; the family returned to Houston in 1968, and Mr. Davis set
up his office downtown, at Shell Plaza Two; and
WHEREAS, In 1991, after 35 years of service, he retired from
Shell Pipeline, where he was responsible for the company's
substantial land-related acquisition projects; that same year, he
and his wife moved back to Menard, and since then he has devoted his
time to raising goats, sheep, cows, and grandkids at the Dry Creek
Ranch; and
WHEREAS, James Alford Davis is celebrating his 80th birthday
in 2009 with family and lifelong friends at the Menard Country Club
on the San Saba River; this self-made man has been a successful
husband, father, grandfather, lawyer, rancher, a voracious reader
of history, a mentor to many, and the author of In the Eye of a
Hurricane and In From the Cold, and Mr. Davis wants all to remember
that "It didn't just happen"; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the 81st Legislature of the State of Texas
hereby congratulate James Alford Davis on his 80th birthday and
recognize that, after weathering many life storms and experiencing
the cold on levels unknown to most men, Mr. Davis has successfully
emerged from the eye of the storm and has finally come in from the
cold; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be
prepared for Mr. Davis as an expression of high regard by the Texas
House of Representatives and Senate.
Davis of Harris
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.C.R. No. 259 was adopted by the House on May
28, 2009, by a non-record vote.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.C.R. No. 259 was adopted by the Senate on May
29, 2009, by a viva-voce vote.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: __________________
Date
__________________
Governor