John Cameron Davis, former Trona High School principal and superintendent of the Trona Joint Unified School District, died Dec. 23 at Bakersfield Adventist Health Hospital. The eight-year resident of Tehachapi had retired just five months before from a varied and distinguished career in education, but his health was failing. He was 70.
During his life, Mr. Davis was known among family and friends as a go-getter who could meet any challenge. He became proficient in woodworking in a short time while still in college and then was a quick study as he pursued excellence in progressive levels in the education field.
Mr. Davis was born Jan. 10, 1949, in Sleepy Eye, Minn. The family soon moved to Southern California. Living in various communities including Sherman Oaks to Rosemead before settling in Valinda. Mr. Davis played on the varsity football team and was on the wrestling team at Nogales High School, graduating in 1967.
Mr. Davis continued in football at Humboldt State University his freshman year. A leg injury ended his playing days but not his love for the game. He transferred to San Francisco State University where he majored in Political Science with a minor in Industrial Arts. He proved so adept that he ended up teaching the school’s shop class that he was taking his senior year. He graduated in 1971 as a married man. The year before he married his childhood sweetheart, Phyllis Link, also an S.F. State student.
To support himself during college he drove a cab in San Francisco and honed his woodworking craft working for Mayta and Jensen cabinet makers, an experience he treasured. While waiting for a job opening of his choice Mr. Davis worked at Ralphs grocery chain in the freezer warehouse.
His first teaching job was at Trona High School in 1973 as wood shop teacher. He was the assistant football coach for five years and assistant principal for three years. He rebuilt the woodshop and redesigned the wood-working curriculum into a quality program.
In 1981, the Davises moved to Lake Arrowhead. Mr. Davis became principal of the Mary Putnam Henck Intermediate School in the Rim of the World Unified School District. His reputation was growing as an omnipresent principal who was visible in the school corridors, meeting rooms, on the playground and visiting classes.
“He was a very active hands-on principal,” said Mrs. Davis, who was commuting to teaching jobs “down the mountain” in the San Bernardino and Fontana areas. “He had that reputation.”
Mr. Davis became principal of the Rim of the World High School in 1986 for three years, honing administrative skills he would pass along to his daughter, currently an elementary school principal in Ridgecrest. He coached football and also coached the wrestling team as a volunteer,
But the real estate business had long intrigued Mr. Davis in Lake Arrowhead, and he tried a new venture for four years.
“But he really missed education,” Mrs. Davis said.
In the mid ’90s the Davises returned to Trona when Mr. Davis became the high school principal and assistant football coach. In an unusual development — for the school archives — Mr. Davis’ athletic daughter became the football team’s placekicker her sophomore year. During his tenure Mr. Davis also became district superintendent, hence holding two jobs. Still he found time to get a captain’s license for sailing and joined a sailing association. He periodically would take out a boat to sail to Catalina Island. It was typical of Mr. Davis to set his mind to do something, get it done quickly and efficiently, then enjoy it.
In 2004, Mr. Davis accepted the job of principal of Hanford West High School and the family moved to the Central Valley. Mrs.Davis said her husband wanted the challenge and experience of “a more diverse population” and that he was “out there with the kids” in the school of 1,800.
He retired in 2008 and Mr. Davis started his own high-end company, The Turning Point. He created alabaster art objects and marketed them locally while his wife continued teaching elementary school in Lemoore until retiring in 2010.
But in 2012, Mr. Davis was recommended for a job with CalStateTEACH to advise people seeking their teaching credentials. He accepted the position. “John loved it,” Mrs. Davis said. “It was more of the hands-on.”
The next year the program hired Mrs. Davis and they worked as a team. They drove thousands of miles to school districts in many counties.
But, in August 2019, Mr. Davis’ health had begun to decline and the Davis team retired. The timing coincided with their daughter, Sarah Davis Tate, becoming principal of Las Flores Elementary School in Ridgecrest. She says her father’s advice to her was to always be highly visible on campus and keep all lines of communication open with students and faculty and parents alike.
Mr. Davis is survived by his wife of 49 years, Phyllis Davis; their daughter, Sarah Tate and her husband, Robbie; a brother, Scott Davis of Southern California, and grandchildren Dominique “Nique” Edler, 28; Brandyn Tate, 21; Ezra Tate, 14, and Ty Schmid, 20.
A memorial for Mr. Davis will be held Feb. 15 at the Inyokern Airport at 11:00 AM
