Betty Jean Davis

Betty Jean Davis, 98, died on Sunday, February 1, 2026, in Billings, Montana.
Mrs. Davis, who was always known as Jean was born in Aurora, on August 1, 1927, to Ora Sloan Day and Florence Virginia Damoude Day. She was the youngest of five sisters. Her father was a mason responsible for Depression Era public buildings, many of which still stand today, owing to his skill as an artisan. Her mother was one of the first female graduates of a Nebraskan business school of the time. Both her parents were children of pioneers who settled that midwestern territory with grit and gumption. Her sisters were Dorthea Clawson (Jack), Oral Herbig (Ken), Edith Reisinger, and Bess Eileen Day, a writer whose works include Neihardt: The Music of What Happens; The Bones of Lost Canyon; The Barada Quest; and The Mortons of Arbor Lodge: Their Early Years in Nebraska Territory.
After graduating from Aurora Public Schools, Jean matriculated to the University of Nebraska, where she became a lifelong fan of the Cornhuskers football team. While both were at UNL, she dated her husband David Rodney Davis, son of telephone executives David M. and Ruth C. Davis, whose father John T. Price, a descendant of Lord Baltimore and General Sterling Price (Governor of Missouri, member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and, later, Civil War general and military ally of Maximilian I of Mexico, the younger brother of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria), helped found the public educational system in Nebraska. They were married on August 18, 1946. After their marriage, her husband attended the University of Nebraska College of Medicine, from which he was graduated in 1954. Throughout his years in medical school, she worked at the college and earned her Ph.T. (“Pushed Husband Through”). They were both active in the medical school fraternity and auxiliaries.
Upon completion of his medical internship in Nebraska, they moved to Montana in 1956.  They settled in Roundup and, for the next forty years, served communities encompassing more than one hundred miles. Three of those years were spent in Mesa, Arizona, from 1973 to 1976. They raised two children, daughter Jan Leigh Hoy (Patrick) of Billings and son David Morris Davis II of Highland Park, Texas; another son Jeffrey died in infancy. They were members of the First Congregational Church of Roundup. Throughout their years in Roundup, Jean was active in their church and community, the local medical auxiliaries, the Montana Republican Party, the Roundup Ridge Riders, the Pine Ridge Golf Club, and P.E.O. Chapter N, where she served in several leadership positions, including president. Upon their retirement, Dr. and Jean left Roundup and spent time on the Boulder, in the Southwest, and on a few European excursions. They eventually chose Billings as their home base, joining first the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd and then the First Presbyterian Church of Billings. They also were members of the Big Timber Lutheran Church. Their shared love of golf introduced them to new friends throughout the United States.
After Dr. Davis’s death, Jean volunteered for St. Vincent’s Healthcare, joined the Global Grannies, played more golf, and organized bridge sessions at several local senior living facilities
In her nearly ten decades on earth, Jean was witness to history. Her uncle Robert Day of Aurora, was one of the ten million military personnel killed during World War I. He died almost immediately upon landing in France. For his heroic military service, he was decorated posthumously. Her husband and his brothers all served their country during World War II. Her brother-in-law Col. John E. Davis, left for dead in the frozen Ardennes Forest, survived the Battle of the Bulge.  With eight inches of snow and nighttime temperatures dropping to twenty below zero, Col. Davis, lacking proper winter gear, suffered severe disabling, frostbite.  He later became a top attorney and successful entrepreneur, owning multimillion-dollar businesses in Michigan and Florida.
In addition to her two children, she is survived by her grandson David Wayne Hoy of Louisville, Kentucky; granddaughter Elizabeth Helen Feltham (Andrew) of Fareham, England; great-grandchildren Henry John Feltham and Emily Jean Feltham; and more than fifty nieces, nephews, and their extended families. She is also survived by Jane Troester Crawford (Don) and Thomas M. Troester, (Ann) children of the late Dr. and Mrs. O.S. Troester, both of San Antonio, and countless friends in Montana, Nebraska, and beyond.
Her memorial service will be held this summer at First Presbyterian Church in Billings, on August 14, 2026, at 2 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, Jean requested that donations be made to two favorite organizations:  the Billings Public Library Foundation (billingslibraryfoundation.org/donate) to benefit the Senior Bookmobile outreach or in support of women’s higher education with a donation to Cottey College (PEO International), 1000 West Austin, Nevada, MO 64772.