Gordon Davis

A private family graveside service and subsequent interment for Gordon Davis was held at Graceland Cemetery in Burke, SD, with Joe Harmacek officiating. Clausen Funeral Home was in charge of arrangement.

Gordon Davis was born July 31, 1937, to Joe and Nella Mae (King) Davis in Burke, SD, the second of eight children. Growing up on the family farm south of Burke, he spent many hours working the fields and milking cows as well as his favorite pastimes of hunting and fishing with the family. He attended all 12 years of school at Burke, setting track records in high school that his son, Duane, later broke.

It was also in high school on the first day of his freshman year that he saw his farm girl, Mildred Harvey, walking across the assembly hall, and she saw her farm boy with freckles, a turned-up nose, and a sailor’s hat. She asked him for the first date to the Leap Year Party. They were married in their senior year on March 12, 1955. It was an unusually warm winter day, the roads turned muddy, and Mildred’s dad, Clarence, hauled all the wedding guests in a green horse-drawn grain wagon to her parents’ farm home for the reception. They spent 70 wonderful years together and raised five children: Duane, Debbie, Dawn, Darla, and Diane.

During this time, Gordon supported his family from 1955-1963 as a meat-cutter at Kallander’s Market, as a Watkin’s products dealer from 1963-1977, and lastly, from 1977-2002 hauling sand and gravel as a truck driver for his sister and brother-in-law, Darlene and Harlan Opperman. After retiring in 2002, he enjoyed challenging his mind and was an expert in Sudoku, crossword, and crypto-quote puzzles.

Gordon will fondly be remembered by his family as a hardworking, generous, kind, respectful, and loving husband and father.

Gordon Davis, age 88, passed away peacefully with family by his side in the early hours of July 7, 2025. Preceding him in death are his parents, oldest brother Gerald, sister-in-law Arlene Horst Davis, father and mother-in-law Clarence and Matie Harvey, and brother and sisterin-law Gerald and Doris Jaros.

Gordon is survived by his loving wife, Mildred, and five children: Duane Davis, Debbie Keller, Dawn Davis, Darla Smith, and Diane Davis; siblings: Dorine Campbell, Darlene (Harlan) Opperman, Bette Davis, Bob (Carol) Davis, Ronnie (Vicki) Davis, and Dick (Karen) Davis; and several nieces and nephews, eight granddaughters, one grandson, and nine great grandchildren.