Richard "Buzzy" Davis

Presenter:  Tim Godard

Good morning, thank you for allowing me back to one of my favorite places, Revere High School.  Several of us nominated this candidate for inclusion into the Distinguished Educator Hall of Fame.  He was selected, and I was asked to present him to you, indeed an honor for me.

This award, although named, “Distinguished Educator” is not just for teachers.  Any Revere Local School District employee is eligible for enshrinement.  It is intended for only those special faculty members that have helped so many of us reach our dreams.  Not just the folks who just punched a timecard, we're talking about the people who had a passion to go beyond the bells.  Those are the people we, the alumni of Revere High School, want to see up on the wall for they gave us their best.

Kathy, my wife gets so mad at me because I relate everything to the car business.  Educating our next generation is a business, and a well-run business is made up of all kinds of important people.  It's teamwork, and all the players must do their part to end up with the number one goal, a satisfied customer, in this case, your students.

With that in mind, I’d like to tell you about this very special person who always went beyond the bells for the students, the teachers, and the big wigs over at what I called the old bomb shelter next door.

He was born at home in Richfield.  He grew up in Richfield and attended Richfield School until his country needed men like him to defend our freedom in World War II.  In 1943, at the age of 18, he left Richfield School and enlisted like so many others.  He became a tail-gunner on a B-24 Liberator bomber and flew 35 missions over Germany. 

Missions complete, he returned from England to Texas to become a gunnery instructor.  In all the years I've known him, he never mentioned what he had done in the war, but I'll bet he was a pretty good shot with those 50 calibers, for they don't just let anyone become instructor.

After the war, he returned to Richfield and worked on the farm and drove a truck for a company in Cleveland.  Later, he took a job in a machine shop until his old school, Richfield, needed someone special.  He started with the school in 1949, and it's a darn good thing for he and Dorothy would soon have to extra mouths to feed, Jimmy and Danny.

In just a few short years, the school systems of Bath and Richfield would merge and plans for a new combined high school were set.  From the beginning, Richard “Buzzy” Davis was involved.  He was there for the first bite of the steam shovel.  Even though it was small in the beginning with 12 teachers or so and only 250 kids, it was a lot of hard work and long hours.  As Revere's head custodian, Buzzy's responsibilities were many.  His hours started at 6 AM and ended long after everyone else had gone home.  In the winter months, it was a seven-day job.  The boilers had to be tended to keep the building from freezing.  Ya know Buzzy, we could have had a few “no heat” days if you hadn’t been so darn dedicated.

Buzzy did have a few extra paying jobs around Revere.  He attended all the football and basketball games, wrestling matches, PTA and Booster Club meetings and other functions.  For that he was paid a bonus of one dollar for opening and closing the school.  Many times I've seen Buzzy throw the switch for the football lights, and on a damp or rainy night, it was a hair-raising experience when the sparks jumped across the contacts.  He was a true Jack-of-All-Trades; he could fix anything.  If he didn't have a part, he could fabricate one down in shop class.  If something went afoul, the cry was “Go find Buzzy.”

Buzzy had other talents too; he always had time to give great advice if you had girlfriend problems.  I guess that's why he and Dorothy have made it over 57 years.  He was a pro.  When you heard the old boiler room door slam shut, you knew the doctor was in and he could see you now.

While getting some facts from our honored recipient, I asked him a few questions.  One of them was this, “Buzzy, what did you like the most about your job at Revere?”  He snapped quickly “the kids.”  “I had the best fortune to work with a lot of wonderful folks over the years, but it was you kids that made it special.

Buzzy, some teachers we will always cherish, and some teachers would like to erase from our minds, but you, for your dedication to us, the twenty-seven classes of your kids, we will never forget the guy who made things run so well around Revere.

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