Charles “Chuck” Eugene Davis

Published 1:23 pm Monday, February 13, 2023

Apex, NC– Charles “Chuck” Eugene Davis, 87, died on Friday, January 20, 2023, in Apex, North Carolina. Born just after midnight on January 1, 1936, in Onalaska, Washington, Chuck was the first baby born that year in a tri-county area, which marked the beginning of a long list of honors he would receive during his lifetime. Upon graduating from high school in 1953, Chuck enlisted in the United States Air Force, where he attended Russian language school in Syracuse, New York, before flying reconnaissance over Russia and then serving in Guam, Japan, Massachusetts, Delaware, and eventually in Charleston, South Carolina. In 1966, Chuck met his wife, Virginia, and the two were married after only knowing each other for one month, resulting in 56 years of marriage. In 1973, Chuck retired from active duty in the Air Force to work for United Airlines as a flight dispatch manager, ultimately settling in Chicago.

In 1989, after Chuck officially retired, leaving both the Air Force Reserve as a Lieutenant Colonel and United Airlines, Chuck and Virginia moved to Tryon, North Carolina. Though retired, Chuck never really stopped working and spent the next 25 years volunteering countless hours with Habitat for Humanity, Polk County Red Cross, Tryon United Methodist Church, the Kiwanis Club, the American Legion, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars (among many others). With the American Legion, Chuck ultimately became a board member, and with the Polk County Red Cross, Chuck eventually became Chairman of the Board. He kept busy and at times was hard to pin down, but if you ever needed to find him, all you had to do was show up Friday night at the Polk County American Legion bingo game, or to the Tryon United Methodist Church steak dinners.

Chuck received numerous honors for his volunteer service: in 1998, he received North Carolina Governor Hunt’s Outstanding Volunteer Service Award; in 2008, Chuck was named Tryon’s Outstanding Citizen of the Year; and in 2012, he was inducted into the Habitat for Humanity Second-Wind Hall of Fame. As the Tryon Bulletin wrote in 1998, “[Chuck] exemplifies a volunteer who truly is concerned about his fellow man and strives to do all he can to assist and give aid to others in need.” Chuck was honored to volunteer, but he was perhaps most honored by the more than thirty homes he helped build with Habitat for Humanity, and for his rescue efforts with the Polk County American Red Cross in Guam and Costa Rica. The only time Chuck failed as a volunteer was when he “fostered” a family of cats (a mother and eight kittens)—though they were able to place six kittens with homes, two kittens and the mother stayed with Chuck and Virginia (and the mother, Asia, is still with them today!).

In 2020, Chuck and Virginia moved to Apex, North Carolina, to be closer to family and to attend to Chuck’s failing health. Chuck is survived by his wife, Virginia Davis, who lives at The Reserve in Apex, North Carolina; his son, Emerson Andrishok, and his wife, Penny Andrishok, of Iowa City, Iowa; and his granddaughter Rachel Briggs, her husband Andrew Draughon, and their two children (Chuck’s great-grandchildren) Charlie and Ernie, of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. A service of remembrance will be held at the Western North Carolina Veteran’s Cemetery in Black Mountain, North Carolina, on Tuesday, March 14 at 2:00 pm.

Rachel Briggs
Chapel Hill, NC