Karen D. (Horton) Davis

                                Karen Doris (Horton) Davis

Summer had just turned to Fall in late September of 1956 when Bob and Barbara Horton of Athens welcomed a baby daughter into the world. Little Karen Doris was received with, no doubt, varying degrees of enthusiasm by three older brothers…Bob, Tom and Gary, and she quickly won them over with her innocent charm.

It must have been sibling love that drove them to–as she would decades later tell anyone who would listen–toss her bodily into a dumpster at the old wreath factory while she was in single digits so she could throw wreathy scraps out to them.

By the time she was 9, a second daughter, Kay, had joined the fold, and Karen had reached 4th grade, with better things to do than dumpster dive.

After those impressionable early years, the Horton family picked up stakes and moved across the Susquehanna into East Athens, where Karen has lived, essentially ever since.

As she matured into a young woman, Karen became mother of three girls of her own…Jenni, born of an early marriage; and Amy and Katie, born of a second marriage. Approaching age 30, the young momma realized she needed a career that could help sustain a healthy family life, so she decided to try nursing.

Three years of juggling child care and academic expectations took a toll on that second marriage but resulted in an independently strong young woman with a great deal of compassion and self-reliance.

An unlikely meeting with a divorced man 10 years her senior–at a bachelor auction fundraiser for the American Cancer Society (she didn’t bid on him)--led to a whirlwind romance and a marriage that produced a fourth daughter, Emily, in 1989. That man, Lloyd Davis, brought his own young son, Justin, into the family. Oddly enough, Justin was born in Maryland exactly one day before Katie was born in Sayre.

Karen’s career of hands-on care at the Robert Packer Hospital had already begun at the time, but she transitioned to Night Manager at the Bradford County Manor shortly after, once again touching lives and sharing her gift of love with the elderly and infirm.

She brought those same attributes to her next position as Director of Nursing at The Manor for 16 years, where she was universally loved and cherished by residents and staff alike.

Life, as it always will, took a turn and brought Karen back to hands-on care in the Acute Rehabilitation unit at Elderwood Skilled Nursing in Waverly in 2007. Her administrative skills were equal to her nursing skills and she soon accepted the role of Assistant Director of Nursing at Elderwood, where she stayed until retiring on her birthday–September 28th, 2021.

Karen’s insistence on excellent resident-care, and her own credo that “This is their home and we are their guests” resulted in making both The Manor and Elderwood two of the most desirable places for elder care in the Twin Tiers.

In her personal life, and in raising a houseful of children from infancy to adulthood, her humor, her caring, her sense of integrity, and her sense of fairness for everyone, were all paramount in her many daily roles. A woman of principle who walked the walk as well as talked the talk.

No family gathering, no large party was quite as much fun if Karen couldn’t be there. Laughter and great food were what she brought with her, and mostly you couldn’t get enough of either.

This was the same woman who could cut you in half with an angry glare, (nobody ever slammed a door in anger any better than she could) and a half hour later heap waves of unmatchable love and caring on you because you scraped a knuckle.

She was affectionately referred to as Iron Fist by those who worked under her, because she demanded the best of everybody…and then she could be found holding the hand of a resident at both The Manor and Elderwood, as that elderly person was breathing their last, singing softly to them so they would know they were not alone.

She instilled a work ethic and a deep sense of dedication to the betterment of others in each of her daughters and provided the son who came into her life with the only real mothering he ever had.

They were all raised in a home filled with laughter and love, as well as the soundest of advice in learning the lessons of life.

It was a very sad, dark day…April 10th…when, after a short, brutal fight with complications from Covid-related pneumonia, Karen’s heart could hold out no more, and she went to be rejoined with her parents.

Left behind to grieve and to cling to each other for strength were her husband of 36 years and five young adults with four spouses and families totaling 12 grandchildren.

Family and friends received at Lowery-Urban Funeral Home and Cremation Services, Inc., 225 S. Main Street, Athens, PA, on Thursday, April, 17, 2025 from Noon to 2:00 pm, where a funeral service will be held at 2:00 pm, followed by a committal service at Tioga Point Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, those wishing to make donations instead are invited to do so to Guthrie Cancer and Infusion Center

         1 Guthrie Square

         Sayre, PA 18840

Those wishing may leaving on-line condolences by visiting www.loweryfuneralhome.com

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