Ex-DPS Director Davis to be remembered in Austin
Texas Department of Public Safety Col. Thomas Davis Jr., whose 43-year career with the agency included eight challenging years as its director, died last week from lung cancer. He was 77.
Davis, who died Sept. 14, will be remembered by family, friends and colleagues at a funeral at 11 a.m. Friday at Shoreline Church, 15201 Burnet Road in North Austin.
His wife, Claire, said he had “dry wit, calm demeanor” and believed in working through things, which he often had to do as DPS director from 2000 until his retirement in 2008.
“It takes a special person to dedicate their life to public service, and Col. Thomas Davis was indeed a proud public servant,” said the agency’s current director, Steven McCraw, in a statement this week.
“My husband loved his job,” Claire Davis said. “He came from a very small town in Mississippi, so he was always marveled to be (DPS) director.”
Davis was born in Quitman, Mississippi., on March 2, 1941, but grew up in Houston, where he graduated from the University of Houston.
He first joined DPS as driver’s license trooper in 1965. Rising through the ranks, Davis became an investigator in the Criminal Law Enforcement Division in 1971 and served in the Houston and Austin areas. Davis was then promoted to DPS assistant director in 1996 before being named the agency’s 10th director nearly four years later.
As director, Davis led the DPS response to Hurricanes Rita and Katrina; helped secure state funding for additional crime labs in Texas; and developed a peer-support program for public servants, his wife said.
“It’s certainly proper that the DPS building be named after him and that he will rest in peace at the Texas State Cemetery,” said
DPS Lt. Col. David McEathron, who served with Davis in the agency as an assistant director.
But Davis’ tenure was not without controversy. The agency faced criticism from Democratic legislators after troopers were used in 2003 to track down dozens of House members who fled to Oklahoma to stall a redistricting vote. Then in 2008, an internal investigation into a fire that gutted the Governor’s Mansion that year found lapses in security and management at the agency. Davis stepped down as DPS director shortly after.
Davis enjoyed playing softball and fishing, and he competed in barbecue cook-offs up until a year before his death, his wife said. He also donated to the Texas Children’s Hospital every year in memory of his grandchild, Jaden, Claire Davis said.
Davis is survived by his wife, sons Scott and Charles, and his daughter Sandra.
Instead of flowers, the family is asking for donations to the Texas Children’s Hospital or the 100 Club of Central Texas, a nonprofit devoted to helping the families public servants killed while on duty.