A father who gave it all
‘Grandpa,’ Tempe band volunteer, helped everyone he knew
When the Marcos de Niza High School Padre Pride marching band took the field for band camp this week, it was the first time in three decades their “Grandpa” wasn’t on the sidelines.
Thirty-two years ago, Ken Davis volunteered to serve as a chaperone for his daughter Kimberly’s band camp at Marcos. He liked it so much that he kept on volunteering, even after Kimberly’s younger brother, Bill, graduated in 1990.
Davis was the guy who knew how to get all the instruments to fit in the rental truck, even when the band was using a large tree as a prop in its performances.
He was the guy who drove the truck to every away game and band competition and ran circles around the other band volunteers.
He was the guy who outlasted six band directors, or seven — nobody quite
remembers. And he was the guy all the kids, and adults, knew as “Grandpa.”
Davis was diagnosed with melanoma earlier this year, and he died June 26 at age 72. His life serves as an example of how much good a person can do once they commit themselves to it.
“He’ll be sorely missed around here,” band director Glenn Hart said. “That man could load a truck like nobody’s business.”
Hart said he’s never had a parent keep volunteering for so many years after their kids leave.
“It’s a rare thing,” he said. “Once their kids graduate, they’re long gone.”
Band Booster Club President Valerie Vasquez said her oldest son was in the band for two years before she realized Davis didn’t have a child in the program. Her youngest, Victor, is now a sophomore percussionist, but through his siblings, he’s been hanging around with the band since he was 10. He said kids respected Davis because he showed them how to do things the right way and really cared about them.
Davis’ volunteer efforts were not limited to the band. His son, Bill, recalled how his father was a longtime umpire, starting in Little League and rising up to community colleges, where umpires are typically paid. “He didn’t want to accept a check, but when they forced him to, he donated every paycheck,” he said.
Davis was also a lifelong blood donor and was devastated when he learned his cancer diagnosis would prevent him from donating.
Davis’ volunteer spirit was evident at an early age, said his sister, Linda Pence.
“It probably started with Boy Scouts,” she said, adding that she and her friends benefited early on from his willingness to step up. “When I was in seventh grade, I wanted to go see Herman’s Hermits in concert, and my parents, of course, wanted nothing to do with it, but Ken said, ‘I’ll take her.’
“A year later, the Beatles came, and again my parents said, ‘No way.’ Ken volunteered again, this time with four of us and my friend’s little sister,” she said. “The five us, so much screaming. It really was above and beyond the call.”
Davis managed to go above and beyond the call year in and year out despite a demanding job as a district engineer with the Federal Highway Administration, where he played a major role helping to develop most of the Valley’s freeway system. He also was instrumental in helping to develop the O’Callaghan-Tillman Bridge, which bypasses Hoover Dam on the way to Las Vegas.
Davis is survived by daughter Kimberly and son Bill; a brother, Jim, and a sister, Linda; 18 grandchildren and adopted grandchildren; several great-grandchildren; and hundreds, if not thousands, of Marcos de Niza band members who also called him Grandpa.
Family members said they plan to scatter his ashes in places he loved, like the Grand Canyon and Carpenteria State Beach in California, the site of many epic extended family camping trips.
And it would be fitting, one family member said, if a tiny bit found their way to the Marcos de Niza football field, where the Padre Pride marching band will perform this fall for the first time without their Grandpa.