Thomas Copley Davidson1
M, b. 23 August 1933, d. 16 January 2012
Thomas Copley Davidson was born on 23 August 1933 in Ohio.
Thomas married Nona LaShawn MEDDERS, daughter of James Walter MEDDERS and Nettie Nona BURT, circa 1957.1
Thomas Copley Davidson died on 16 January 2012 in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, at age 78. He was buried in Ada Chapel Bible Methodist Church Cemetery, Cedar Grove, Bibb County, Alabama.
His obituary appeared 22 January 2012 in the Tuscaloosa News, published in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Thomas Copley Davidson, age 78, died Jan. 16, 2012, at DCH Regional Medical Center in Tuscaloosa.
Thomas was born on his father's birthday, August 23, 1933, in Helena, Ohio, and he grew up on a farm in Wood County, Ohio. His education began in a one-room school, grades 1 through 8 approximately one mile from the family farm. His high school education occurred in Pemberville, from which he graduated in 1951. He worked for a year as a laboratory technician for General Mills in Rossford, Ohio, before attending Marion College in Marion, Indiana (now Indiana Wesleyan University). In college he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with majors in Botany, Zoology, English, and Religion.
Thomas was married to Nona LaShawn Medders soon after they graduated in 1956. Thomas was drafted into the U.S. Army in September 1956 and served for two years primarily in Landstuhl, Germany, as a laboratory technician, identifying communicable diseases and developing flu vaccine. After being discharged from active duty, Thomas attended graduate school at Indiana University from which he earned a Master of Arts degree in Botany. He taught biological sciences at Marion College for six years, after which he and his wife served on the mission field in Sierra Leone, West Africa, for a total of five years with assignments in African secondary boarding schools as teachers and Thomas as principal. He then attended Arizona State University where he earned a Ph.D. as a specialist in the use of tropical wetlands for sustained, indigenous rice cultivation. While doing research to present for his degree, Thomas taught general ecology and crop ecology in Spanish at the Inter-American Institute for Agricultural Sciences, a facility of the Organization of American States in Costa Rica, Central America. Thomas then taught for two years in the Science Division of the University of Liberia in Monrovia, Liberia, West Africa, before returning to the United States and working for the Department to Agriculture in Washington, D.C. as a specialist in tropical wetland crops. Thomas later transferred to the New Orleans District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, with whom he continued to work for the protection of wetlands.
Thomas was preceded in death by his wife, Nona LaShawn Medders of rural Bibb County, Alabama; his parents, John and Cora Davidson of Wood County, Ohio; his brother, Robert of Marengo County, Ohio; and his sisters, Luella Oberhouse of Pemberville, Ohio and Pauline Hostilo of Hopkinsville, Kentucky.
He is survived by his son, John Lyle of Fremont, California; his daughters, Nanette Adele Davidson of Northport, Alabama and Margaret Celeste Ambrose of Missoula, Montana; and granddaughter, Corina Ambrose.
In lieu of flowers, Thomas's children request that donations be sent to Good Shepherd United Methodist Church, 4700 Vance Ave., Fort Wayne, IN 46815, Memo: to Mission School Project, Sierra Leone, West Africa, for the building of an elementary mission school. For more information, call (260) 483-8616.
Thomas married Nona LaShawn MEDDERS, daughter of James Walter MEDDERS and Nettie Nona BURT, circa 1957.1
Thomas Copley Davidson died on 16 January 2012 in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, at age 78. He was buried in Ada Chapel Bible Methodist Church Cemetery, Cedar Grove, Bibb County, Alabama.
His obituary appeared 22 January 2012 in the Tuscaloosa News, published in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Thomas Copley Davidson, age 78, died Jan. 16, 2012, at DCH Regional Medical Center in Tuscaloosa.
Thomas was born on his father's birthday, August 23, 1933, in Helena, Ohio, and he grew up on a farm in Wood County, Ohio. His education began in a one-room school, grades 1 through 8 approximately one mile from the family farm. His high school education occurred in Pemberville, from which he graduated in 1951. He worked for a year as a laboratory technician for General Mills in Rossford, Ohio, before attending Marion College in Marion, Indiana (now Indiana Wesleyan University). In college he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with majors in Botany, Zoology, English, and Religion.
Thomas was married to Nona LaShawn Medders soon after they graduated in 1956. Thomas was drafted into the U.S. Army in September 1956 and served for two years primarily in Landstuhl, Germany, as a laboratory technician, identifying communicable diseases and developing flu vaccine. After being discharged from active duty, Thomas attended graduate school at Indiana University from which he earned a Master of Arts degree in Botany. He taught biological sciences at Marion College for six years, after which he and his wife served on the mission field in Sierra Leone, West Africa, for a total of five years with assignments in African secondary boarding schools as teachers and Thomas as principal. He then attended Arizona State University where he earned a Ph.D. as a specialist in the use of tropical wetlands for sustained, indigenous rice cultivation. While doing research to present for his degree, Thomas taught general ecology and crop ecology in Spanish at the Inter-American Institute for Agricultural Sciences, a facility of the Organization of American States in Costa Rica, Central America. Thomas then taught for two years in the Science Division of the University of Liberia in Monrovia, Liberia, West Africa, before returning to the United States and working for the Department to Agriculture in Washington, D.C. as a specialist in tropical wetland crops. Thomas later transferred to the New Orleans District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, with whom he continued to work for the protection of wetlands.
Thomas was preceded in death by his wife, Nona LaShawn Medders of rural Bibb County, Alabama; his parents, John and Cora Davidson of Wood County, Ohio; his brother, Robert of Marengo County, Ohio; and his sisters, Luella Oberhouse of Pemberville, Ohio and Pauline Hostilo of Hopkinsville, Kentucky.
He is survived by his son, John Lyle of Fremont, California; his daughters, Nanette Adele Davidson of Northport, Alabama and Margaret Celeste Ambrose of Missoula, Montana; and granddaughter, Corina Ambrose.
In lieu of flowers, Thomas's children request that donations be sent to Good Shepherd United Methodist Church, 4700 Vance Ave., Fort Wayne, IN 46815, Memo: to Mission School Project, Sierra Leone, West Africa, for the building of an elementary mission school. For more information, call (260) 483-8616.
Last Edited=18 Mar 2022
Citations
- [S58] Stan Medders, Medders Saga.
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