The eventful life of Owen Davis goes back to the date I discovered America.  I was the first of five children in the family of Owen T. Davis and Anna Price.  I was born on November 22, 1901 in a log house in Samaria, Idaho.  Dad was then employed as a clerk in Ben Waldron’s store.  Soon he moved to the old David P. Davis Ranch at Gwenford, Idaho.  On this ranch Mary, Daniel, Herman, and Elizabeth were born.

On our ranch we had 20 milk cows, 200 head of sheep, several teams of horses used to farm the 160 acres of irrigated land that grew grain, hay, potatoes and a small orchard.  There was work for all.

All of us graduated from grade school in Samaria and High School in Malad.  The mode of transportation was horseback or in a Model “T” Ford car.  My Uncle Dave gave me two saddle horses that provided much enjoyment and use in riding for cattle in the Samaria Mountains.

I learned to dance in the old Samaria recreation hall or church.  Dad was a stage actor and a public speaker, as well as a rancher and ward clerk.  Recreation included baseball, horse racing, dancing, swimming in the ponds and rivers.

After graduating from high school, employment was obtained with the Union Pacific and the Southern Pacific Railroad companies as a carpenter helper and electrician on block signals in Nevada.  I worked as a fireman for the Utah Idaho Sugar Company at Garland, Utah.  This money sent me to the University at Logan, Utah.  In the fall of 1923, Grif Jenkins, President of the J.N. Ireland Bank of Malad loaned me sufficient money to complete two years schooling at the Albion State Normal.  This gave me Junior High School Certification that started me teaching grade school in Oakley for one year, then to Burley Jr. High before going to Jerome.

While attending school at Albion, I met Zellma Irene Wright from Twin Falls, Idaho.  She had black hair, very attractive and skilled at presiding in the Relief Society presidency.  She was popular at home and in school.  Something happened. I was able to get a date with her to attend a school social.  We went everywhere.  Then on June 1, 1929 we were married in Boise, Idaho.  Six weeks honeymoon down the Pacific Coast then to Jerome until 1942.  On September 30 I resigned from the school administration and became employed by the United Pacific Insurance Company as Safety Director on the defense projects in Southern Idaho.  This required many safety speeches at the foremen’s meetings.  I had a million and a half man hours with Morrison Knudsen Co. and other contractors without one accidental death. 

The company transferred me to Portland, Oregon to work in Casualty and Bond Claims.  In 1946 I was made Branch Claims Manager, opening a new office in Boise.  My tenure with this company was 25 years.  They found my birth certificate and I was retired December 31, 1966.

We attended church in Boise.  I worked as Sunday School Teacher Trainer for three years and Stake Teacher Trainer for seven years, then two years as Stake Sunday School Superintendent.

Zellma and I had the pleasure of escorting Travel Tours for ten summers for the Margaret Lund Tours out of Salt Lake City and Harmon Tours out of Boise.  This took us to all points to see the Wonders of the World in Canada, Mexico, Islands of the Pacific, as well as the USA.  Zellma and I are residing in Boise enjoying the best of health.  I am a licensed realtor and investigator of insurance claims.  This gives me something to do, so my training in Utah, Colorado, Washington and with the University of Chicago paid off.  

Thanks for reading this, now live up to it.