LODI- Nancey Ann Davis, age 83, passed away on Thursday, December 5, 2024, at Waunakee Valley Senior Living.

A strong, independent lady. Born a farm girl never lost her love for the farm in all her 83 years. She was born in DeKalb, Ill., to a prominent farmer and businessman, Arthur and Dorothy (Broughton) Challand, she always had a mind for business.

Nancey graduated from Hinckley High School in 1959. She went to college at Milwaukee Business School, then heard they were opening one in Ft. Lauderdale. She talked her dad into letting her attend a semester there. Nancey said that was great, you got your schoolwork done and went to the beach. After college she returned to Hinckley to work at the DeKalb Ag. She would help her dad with bookwork for the custom combining and shelling business.

She met Willard Davis in the early 1960’s as he was a hired man for her father. They were united in marriage on May 6, 1966.

They started camping at Gannon’s Resort in Lodi, Wisconsin and bought a neighboring farm in the spring of 1974. Through the years on the farm, she would call the three boys all at once yelling “Arthur, Robert Scotty”. We called it the roll call. Nancey did the bookwork and always helped with farm chores. From 1978 to 1983 she worked in the office for Fuchs Trucking. The truckers called her “Pickles”. I asked why pickles, she said, while racing out of the office one afternoon, one of the guys said, where are you going in such a hurry, “I’m heading home to can pickles”. Somethings just stick to you. From 1988 to 1993, she ran Dane-Col. Feed and Grain, the feed mill in Lodi, with her husband.

In 1990 she went to work at Maplewood, as her husband had taken ill with MS. At 50 years old she went back to college and became an LPN nurse, what an achievement. From there she went to work at Central Wisconsin Center. She really loved the people there and she would become a house mom to young nurses, teaching them money management, how to buy stocks, and of course, organizing a potluck.

Nancey also had a variety of interest including sewing, quilting and creating things for her family and friends.

Nancey is survived by two sons, Arthur (Michele) Davis and Scott (Rita) Davis; six grandchildren, Mathias Shacter, Evan (Addie Hillestad) Davis, Olivia (Patrick) Doan, Sierra (Jackson Mellum) Davis, Chance Davis, and Gage Davis; two great-grandchildren, Ryder Shacter and Eleanor Doan; and sister, Jennifer Anderson.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Willard Davis; son, Robert Davis; and her parents, Arthur and Dorothy Challand.

Private family services were held. Burial will be at Greenwood Cemetery in Hinckley IL.

For more information and online condolences please visit www.gundersonfh.com

Gunderson Lodi

Funeral & Cremation Care

157 S. Main St.

(608) 592-3201

Nancey Ann Davis

April 22, 1941 - December 05, 2024

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