Michael E. Davis; Retired Ventura Police Officer

Michael E. Davis, a retired Ventura police officer who befriended the children in his Ventura neighborhood as an extended family, has died. He was 53.

Born on Feb. 24, 1944, in Jefferson City, Mo., Davis lived in Fresno before moving to Ventura in 1971. He earned a degree in criminology and forensics at Fresno State College, then worked as a sheriff’s deputy in the Fresno area. Two years after moving to Ventura, he joined the city’s Police Department and served as a motorcycle officer.

In 1988, Davis suffered a serious heart attack and retired from the Police Department. He died from heart disease, a condition he battled for 10 years, his family said.

Fellow Ventura police officers remember Davis as a cheerful man, always ready with a joke and a kind word.

“He was one of the happiest-go-luckiest fellows I ever met,” Assistant Police Chief Ken Thompson said. “He retired 10 years ago, and people still talk about him. That’s the kind of guy he was. We are still very attached to him--we lost one of our own.”

Davis was an avid golfer, and was a member of the Safety Services Golf Assn., the Buenaventura Senior Men’s Golf Assn., Olivas Park Men’s Club, and the Southern California Public Links Golf Assn. He also served as a coach for the Montalvo Little League.

“He loved children--he raised everybody else’s children,” said Davis’ wife of 29 years, Georgette Davis. The friends of the couple’s sons soon became friends of the entire family, she said.

“When he was dying, the kids were with him, sitting by his bed, saying ‘You were there for me when my father wasn’t; You were the father I never had,’ ” Georgette Davis said.

In addition to his wife, Davis is survived by two sons, Christopher and Craig of Ventura; his mother, Esther I. Davis of West Point, Calif.; a brother, Ralph Jr. of Stockton; 10 nieces and nephews; and eight great-nieces and nephews.

Trisagion services will be held Wednesday at 5 p.m. at Ted Mayr Funeral Home in Ventura; viewing will follow until 8 p.m. Funeral services will be held Thursday at 10 a.m. at the funeral home with the Very Rev. Cyril Loeb of St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church officiating. Graveside services will follow at Ivy Lawn Memorial Park in Ventura.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to St John’s Regional Medical Center, c/o Foundation, 1600 N. Rose Ave., Oxnard 93030, or to the Ventura Police Officers Assn., 1425 Dowell St., Ventura 93003.

Arrangements are under the direction of the Ted Mayr Funeral Home in Ventura.