Uncrowned Community Builders

E. Marie Davis was born in Tipton County, Tennessee, on Christmas Day, 1928. Most of her early life was spent in the South, until she came to Niagara Falls, New York in 1953. E. Marie was the daughter of Dr. Charles B. and Alice (Gaines) Hayes and a close member of the family of Willie and Doris Fields.

A graduate of Talledaga College in Talledega, Alabama, she was quiet, unassuming and private, yet she was a "Gentle Giant."

Her career began as Director of the Girls Club, Niagara Community Center Association. She did not stop there and she was the Director of many community organizations, which included: Niagara Falls Y.W.C.A. School Drop Out Program; Information and Referral-Research and Planning Council; Negro Adoptions Project; and the United Way of Buffalo and Erie Count, Community Planning Program.

Somehow, Marie also found the time to devote to various community organizations. She was a member of the Board of Directors of the Martha H. Beeman Foundation, as well as the United Way of Niagara, Family and Children Services of Niagara, and the Niagara Falls Boys and Girls Club.

Additionally, she was a volunteer with the Niagara Falls Area Chamber of Commerce, and a member of the Niagara Falls Chapter of The Links, Inc. and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

At the time of her death in 2001, she was employed by the Niagara Falls City School District as a Pupil Services Assistant at the Harry F. Abate Elementary School.