Obituary of Julia M. Davis

Julia M. Davis, 82, of Iowa City, died unexpectedly, Friday, March 8th at Mercy Hospital in Iowa City. Funeral services will be held 1 p.m., Tuesday, March 12, at the Gay & Ciha Funeral and Cremation Service in Iowa City. Visitation will be from 4-7 p.m. Monday at the funeral home. In lieu of flowers memorials in Julia's name can be made to the Crisis Center, Habitat for Humanity, Table to Table or the UI Foundation to be used for the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. Julia Ann McBroom Davis was born on September 29, 1930 in Alexandria, LA to Guy C. and Addie (McElroy) McBroom. She lived various places as a child but grew up mainly in Louisiana. She graduated from Byrd High School in Shreveport and received her Bachelor's degree from Northwestern State College in Nachitoches, LA. She married Cecil Ponder Davis in 1951 and traveled all over the world with him in pursuit of his military career. She returned to school and earned her PhD in Audiology in 1966 from the University of Southern Mississippi. She joined the faculty there in the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences that same year. In 1971, she accepted a position as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology at the University of Iowa and moved with her family to Iowa City. She went on to Chair that department (the first woman to do so) for several years and served as an Associate Dean for Faculty in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. In 1987, she moved to Tampa, FL, to serve as Dean of the college of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of South Florida and then as Provost from 1990-91. Julia's last faculty position was as the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Minnesota. The speech and hearing clinics at that university now bear her name. She retired to Iowa City in 1987. She was internationally known in her field and pioneered research in language acquisition in hard of hearing children and eventually amassed some of the most comprehensive demographic and psychoeducational data ever published on hearing-impaired children in the public schools. Julia wrote a seminal publication 'Our Forgotten Children: Hard of Hearing Pupils in the Schools' and co-authored a text book, 'Rehabilitative Audiology for Children and Adults'. She successfully published the results of her research in peer-reviewed journals. A significant presence on the national scene in professional organizations, she served on the Executive Committee for the Academy of Rehabilitation Audiology and as its President (1979 – 1980). In recognition of her significant contributions to her chosen field, she was awarded the Honors of the Association from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) in 2005. She served as a trustee to the ASHFoundation . Julia and Ponder divorced in 1981. She met David G Reynolds, Professor of Surgery and Director of Surgical Research at the University of Iowa and they married in 1987. Dave then joined Julia in all of their subsequent academic adventures and was her much loved and constant companion for the remainder of her life. They traveled widely with family and friends and, after retirement, spent every winter in Florida on the beach. How to describe Julia? There really are no adequate words. Julia was a bright, funny, beautiful woman who left an impression on everyone she ever met. She possessed a strong sense of 'right and wrong and was an advocate for fairness and social justice. An exceptional educator and mentor, a gifted academic, a fiercely loyal friend, and a loving and supportive mother, aunt, and wife, she will be sorely missed. She was especially talented at being a grand-mother and took great delight in spending time with her grandkids. They are all mourning their 'Mammaw.' Julia is survived by her husband, David, her children Mark (Linda Kraus), Paul (Linda), Anne (Tom) Suter, Steve (Sarah) Reynolds and Doug (Judy) Reynolds and by her grandchildren Molly Suter, Katie Reynolds, Amy Suter, Andy Reynolds, Chris (Regina) Walther, and Shannon (Cal) Johnston. In addition, she is survived by her cherished niece, Lisa Creech, and her family as well as numerous nieces/nephews, cousins, sisters-in-law, friends, foes, and great grand-children. She was preceded in death by her parents, her older brother James R. McBroom, her former husband, and an infant grandson.