Dahlman Davis

Dahlman Davis, 83, Maitland, formerly of Odessa and California, MO, passed away unexpectedly on Thursday March 14, 2024.

He had a recent fall and brief hospital stay in St. Joseph. He was born August 14, 1940, near Bolckow, to Richard Harold Davis and Lois E. Kent Davis. He graduated in 1958 from North Andrew High School and in 1962 from Northwest Missouri State College, now university, with a bachelor of science in secondary education, social science major and sociology minor. Dahlman, as he was known by friends and family in northwest Missouri, was known “south of the river” and professionally as DJ.

His first year of teaching was 1962 when he accepted a position as history teacher and girls’ basketball coach at Clark Community High School in Osceola, IA. He was found to have cancer and required surgery in the spring of 1963 and his contract was not renewed. In the fall of 1964, he was hired as a history teacher at South Nodaway High School in Barnard where he spent two years in the classroom and started working on his master’s in education degree at Northwest Missouri State College. He was hired as the new principal at South Nodaway for the 1967-68 school year and spent three years in that position. In 1970, Dahlman was hired as the principal at Maysville High School where he also spent three years before being hired as assistant high school principal at California, MO High School. During this time, he also earned his specialist in education degree from the University of Missouri – Columbia. It was in California, where he met and married his wife, Jill Stith in 1977 and became father to Jeff and Marc. His final position of his career in education began in 1979 when he was chosen as principal at Odessa High School. He retired from school administration after the 1995-96 school year ended. He loved to say that although he was only given a year to live after his last cancer bout, he never missed another day of school because of it for the rest of his 33-year career. His treatment and unexpected length of survival was so unusual that his case was written about in an article in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Upon DJ’s retirement in 1996, he was encouraged to run for Missouri House of Representatives, which he did and was elected that fall. He served as state representative for the then 122nd district until 2002. During this time, he was fortunate to meet many dignitaries, including Oakland As and St. Louis Cardinals great Mark McGwire when he visited the state capitol. Former Governor, the late Mel Carnahan, knew him by first name. After retiring from the state legislature, D.J. returned to Odessa where he continued to live until 15 years ago when he moved to Maitland to return to his boyhood home area. During his retirement years, he enjoyed helping his niece, Alice ,and her husband, Kipp, around the farm and travelling to the Kansas City area for family meals and holidays with family. Occasionally, he would make the drive to Colorado to spend time with his son there.

Visitation will be from 9 until 11 am with memorial service following immediately afterwards on Friday, March 29, 2024, at the Bram Funeral Home, 206 E South Hills Dr, Maryville. Burial will be in the Whitesville Cemetery, Whitesville.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the DJ Davis Rotary Club Scholarship Fund, C/O The Odessan, PO Box 80, Odessa, MO 64076. Please put “DJ Davis Scholarship Fund” in the memo.