Deborah Jean Davis
Deborah Jean Davis, beloved wife and mother, passed away from a heart attack at her home shortly after 9 a.m. on Monday, July 14, 2025 at the age of 70 years old. She had been suffering from terminal squamous cell carcinoma at the time and had been undergoing radiation therapy.
Deby retired in 2016 following a previous cancer diagnosis, having worked for the Hamilton County, Tennessee government in the Financial Management Department for 23 years, during 18 of which she held the position of Budget Manager. She held three professional certifications - CPA, CGFM, and CPFO - as well as a BS in Economics from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Born in Fort Payne, Alabama on April 4, 1955, to Frank Eugene Smith and Tena Mae Smith (née Stewart), and raised in Chickamauga, Georgia, Deby was the eldest of four children. She was married to Attorney and Judge Robert T. Davis, with whom she had one son, Robert Taylor Davis, II.
As a child, in addition to going to school, she cared for her younger siblings while her parents worked, and also began working herself occasionally at the age of 12 in order to help support the family. She developed a rigorous work ethic. Due to having married at 17, she was unable to finish high school, and instead began working full time in 1972. She worked in a number of jobs, including waitressing, teaching ballroom dance, and working at a textile factory, before eventually becoming a bookkeeper for R&L Wrecker Service. She would go on to work as a bookkeeper for Adman Electric and Eugene Hatfield over the next two decades.
In 1979, at the age of 24, she met Robert T. Davis, a Chattanooga attorney, and after six years of dating they married on January 31, 1985. Following their meeting, her husband Bob began to expand her sense of what was possible for her to achieve and encouraged her to apply to college. Following the birth of their son, Taylor, in 1990, she began attending the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, accomplishing her degree in Economics in just three years while also working and caring for her young son.
Now a college graduate at 38 years old, she began seeking work in the field of accounting, and soon began working in the Financial Management Department of the Hamilton County, Tennessee Government. While there, she began studying for her CPA, which she received a few years later. She continued to pursue additional professional certifications past her CPA, first achieving her CGFM (Certified Government Financial Manager), and eventually receiving her CPFO (Certified Public Finance Officer) - only the third person in the State of Tennessee to have ever received that certification, and the first to do so directly through examination rather than as a component of their degree program. With these certifications, she eventually became the Budget Manager of Hamilton County, in which role she oversaw the process of producing, organizing, presenting, and seeking approval for Hamilton County’s yearly budget. Beginning with her first year as Budget Manager and for nearly every year thereafter until her retirement, her Comprehensive Annual Budget Reports received GFOA’s Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for clarity, excellence, and adherence to best practices.
In addition to her professional activities, she also pursued a number of avocations. Originally a timid and nervous speaker who struggled with presentations and public speaking, she joined Toastmasters International, a non-profit organization which helps members to improve their public speaking and leadership skills, becoming a confident and accomplished public speaker and reaching a high rank within the organization which she held for a number of years. She eventually was asked to be a UTC Commencement Guest Speaker. She was also involved with Leadership Chattanooga, was a Notary Public, was a member of GFOA (Government Finance Officers Association) and was a member of the local Legal Secretaries Association, having worked as a legal secretary prior to her time with Hamilton County Government, including working for her husband for a time.
She was a Worthy Matron of the East Ridge Order of Eastern Star and had served on the State level of that organization, was a member of the Sunnyside Order of Eastern Star, and was also a member of the Lady Shrine and the Fraternal Order of Eagles.
Despite all of these accomplishments and activities, she also found time to care for her family, and is fondly remembered by all those who knew her for her fun-loving, whimsical nature and boundless energy, dedication to her extended family, and deep generosity to all those around her. She loved tennis and had been a member of the Racquet Club, and read prodigiously, often reading two or more books a week well into her retirement.
In 2009, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent radiation and chemotherapy. After several years of being in remission, she developed MDS (Myelodysplastic syndrome), a blood cancer, with which she was diagnosed in 2016. In 2018, she received a bone marrow stem cell transplant to treat the MDS, for which she had been receiving chemotherapy, using stem cells donated by her brother, Michael. In 2024, her health began to decline and she had to be hospitalized three separate times between May 2024 and January 2025, including the discovery and removal of a squamous cell carcinoma tumor in her cheek, which had returned by June 2025.
She was a member of Tyner United Methodist Church, where her husband had also served as Trustee.
She was predeceased by her father Frank Eugene Smith, her mother Tena Mae Smith, her sister Theresa Smith Chapman, her brother David Smith, and her step-grandson Skyler Davis Craver.
She is survived by her husband Bob Davis (78), her son Taylor Davis (35), her step-daughter Emilee Davis Wooten (56), her brother Michael Smith (64), her nephew Trevor Smith (34), her niece Heather Chapman (41), her grandnephew Landon Powers (21), and her step-great-grandson Aiden Davis Craver (10), along with numerous cousins and friends.
Her funeral will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, July 19, 2025 at Chattanooga Funeral Home-Valley View Chapel, with visitation from 5-7 p.m. on Friday, July 18, 2025. The Honorable Judge Clarence Shattuck will officiate.