JoAnn Kinion Davis Endowed Scholarship

JoAnn Kinion Davis was a cherished family member, community activist, advocate for urban youth, and beloved friend to so many, passed away peacefully on January 22, 2022, on St. Simons Island, Ga., after a short battle with cancer.

JoAnn was born on April 3, 1943, in Norfolk, Va. She was the oldest of eight siblings born to naval aviator Ambrose Joseph Kinion and Eleanor Weber Kinion. JoAnn graduated from Monterey Peninsula Junior College and the University of Santa Clara, at the latter of which she was among the first women to be admitted. At the University of Santa Clara, she developed a lifelong passion for politics, social justice, and community involvement.

She married Ted Davis in 1964 while he was an infantry officer in the United States Army and moved to Atlanta, where their three children – Jan, Ted Jr., and Amy – were born. During this time, JoAnn earned a master’s degree in early childhood education at Georgia State University and became a pioneer faculty member at the Galloway School. She also held leadership positions with the League of Women Voters and the National Association for the Education of Young Children and brought the first Title I kindergarten to Georgia.

In 1976, they moved to Columbus, Ohio, where she continued her career in education and community service. She started a girl’s youth soccer program, served on the local school board, and was president of The Ohio State University Hospital’s Service Board. She also developed and led two programs – “I KNOW I CAN,” a college scholarship program, and “Village to Child,” an urban community-based program at Ohio Dominican College. Both programs received national recognition and were honored by President George H. W. Bush as one of the Thousand Points of Light and the latter by President Bill Clinton. In 1996, she received Columbus’s prestigious YWCA Woman of Achievement Award for Racial Justice.

When she and Ted retired in 2001 to Glynn County, Ga., she remained involved in educational programs and her community. She became a mentor and tutor at Glynn Academy and started LEAP, a program focused on increasing the graduation rates of at? risk students. Her support and commitment to urban youth were recognized by the Brunswick Branch of the NAACP in 2012, when she and Ted were co-recipients of the organization’s “Humanitarian Award.”

She also devoted thousands of hours to helping both public and private school students prepare for college admissions exams and personally drove many students for visits to colleges, often outside the state of Georgia. JoAnn was also instrumental in starting and running the Golden Isles Youth Orchestra, the Symphonette Orchestra, and the St. Francis Xavier Catholic School Strings Program, endeavors she undertook with great pride and satisfaction. JoAnn also served the community as a member of the Unitarian Church in Brunswick.

JoAnn’s love for the community was matched by her love for her family. She was devoted to her family and active in the lives of her children. The Davis home was always filled with their children’s friends and neighbors; it was the home to which everyone went after school and on the weekends. JoAnn’s best memories, however, were of spending time with Ted and their six grandchildren on St. Simons Island, Sea Island, and Little St. Simons Island, as well as on fishing expeditions on the Intracoastal Waterway.

JoAnn was living proof that one person can wield an enormous, positive influence on the lives of others and that true labors oflove can change our communities for the better. Her legacy will live on in the many children and young adults whose lives she touched.