for Davis and Day
Davis was a gift. Day wanted him more than I’ve ever known anyone to want a child, and Davis was a gift of love. We have a hymn, the refrain sings “All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above; then thank the Lord, Oh thank the Lord, for all - - his love. And Davis was a gift of love.
You don't know me, I am Tom, Fr Tom Weller, I was the priest here at Trinity Church from 1984 though 1998; and if you were here with us at that Time you may remember our excitement about Day’s pregnancy. I do not recall whether we knew ahead of Time that the baby was a boy, but I remember, not long after Linda and I retired from Trinity Church and moved home to Panama City, Day called me asking that we come back and baptize Davis Jefferson McGee. I asked Day, "Tell me about his name." She said, "After the president!" I understand: we are Southerners!
The baptism was at Day’s house, at a little pond in a corner of the back yard. There never was a more beautiful baby, and I was sure then, that, as a single mom, Day was in for one busy life, and that she might not always be in charge.
That was confirmed a few years later when Day’s car pulled up in the driveway at our back door. She stepped out of the driver’s side and a boy got out of the passenger side. Marveling that he had grown so, I said, “Hello, Davis!” I don’t remember, he was 5 or 7 or 9 maybe? They were in Panama City to take Davis to the beach, and he was anxious to get to the beach. We went in to our family room and before we sat down Davis asked, “Can we go to the beach now?” I think Day had told him, Don't worry, we'll only stay a minute, and a minute was up.
As we started catching up on the years, “Mom, can we go to the beach now?” I asked Day how things were going. “Can we go to the beach now?” Day was considering relocating from Apalachicola, to Panama City Beach or back home to Georgia. “Can we go to the beach now?” It was clear that Davis would grow up a beach boy, and that Day had her hands full. I doubt she ever got control of him!
I don't remember the circumstances, but when Davis was a teenager he had a job working at, I think it was the Piggly Wiggly. Day told me that all the ladies were hitting on him! Now and then I spotted Davis’ picture on Facebook: like his mother, he was strikingly beautiful. Davis was strong, tanned, athletic, a surfer in great shape. As expected from before he was born, Davis was doted on. He was loved, beloved, Day’s one and only. He was a gift. A gift of love.
A few verses from Ecclesiastes 3:
To every thing there is a season,
and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to get, and a time to lose;
a time to have, and a time to let go;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate - -
In Day’s life this is a Time to lose, a Time to weep, a Time to mourn, a Time to let go, a Time to love. l was thinking of Ronnie Milsap's love song, “I wouldn't have missed it for the world.” Davis was a gift of love. I wouldn't have missed it for the world.
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Remarks and memories by the Rev Tom Weller, Episcopal priest retired, at the funeral of Davis Jefferson McGee in Trinity Episcopal Church, Apalachicola, Florida on Friday afternoon, February 14, 2025. At the church service I edited some of this for brevity.