Remembering Doris Davis

Remembering Doris Davis

by | 23 Oct 2019

Doris Davis, 99, of Hilliard, Ohio, passed away 14 October 2019. She was a retired missionary, serving the Church of the Nazarene in Japan for 35 years. 

Doris was born in Tokyo, Japan, 6 December 1919. She was the second child of Free Methodist missionaries Henry Wagner and Gladys Wagner. 

As prospects of war began to loom in Japan in the 1930s, the family moved back to the United States, settling in Los Angeles. They began to attend Highland Park Church of the Nazarene, and Doris went on to attend Pasadena Nazarene College, where she met her husband, Harrison Davis Jr. They were married on 25 July 1947 and stayed in Pasadena for a few more years.

Harrison was ordained as an elder in the Church of the Nazarene in 1950, and the couple moved to Tokyo soon after. Harrison was appointed to assist in the organizing and construction of a Bible college, which would also serve as the headquarters for the Japan District. Harrison and Doris taught at the school for eight years.

In 1960, the Church of the Nazarene purchased a high school and junior college complex in Chiba City and turned it into Japan Nazarene College. Harrison was appointed president but returned to the States to finish his doctorate. In 1965, they returned and Harrison served as the president of Japan Nazarene College until 1985, when both Doris and Harrison retired. 

After retirement they moved to Bethany, Oklahoma, where Harrison taught at Southern Nazarene University from 1990 to 1994.

Doris was preceded in death by Harrison, who passed away in 2010. She is survived by her four children, David Davis, Paul Davis, Stephen Davis, and Carol Herth.

--Information courtesy of Steve Walsh, Asia-Pacific Region correspondent

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