Columbus, Ohio USA
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Sandy Davis (1944-2013)
Mother, wife, friend and mentor
Short North bed and breakfast owner meant much to many
By Margaret Marten
November/December 2013 Issue

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Sandy Davis, owner of 50 Lincoln-Short North Bed and Breakfast, passed away unexpectedly at the Ross Heart Hospital on August 23. She had experienced problems with low blood pressure over the years, with no specialist able to determine the cause or provide a diagnosis. She was 69 years old and lived with her husband Don in the Short North for over 20 years. The couple celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary shortly before her passing.

Davis was born in Charleston, West Virginia, to the late Charles and Julene Harris. She attended Hurricane High School and married Don Davis, fresh out of the Air Force, not long after her graduation in 1962. “She was a straight-A student in school," he said, “but instead of her going to college, we got married. I went to college on a basketball scholarship and she went to work.” Her brother, Larry Harris, two years her junior, said she was an avid reader, like their mother, with a strong work ethic, which their father, an iron worker, instilled in them. “She went right to work,” he said. “And when she worked, she worked.”

After Don completed college, the couple moved to Columbus and later to Reynoldsburg where they raised their two children, Christy and D. Scott. Davis worked an assortment of sales jobs over the years, perfecting her people skills that would later benefit her as a bed and breakfast owner for almost 20 years. She had a natural talent dealing with the public. According to family members, she loved meeting people and she loved big Victorian homes.

“They fell in love with this neighborhood when they were bringing my brother back and forth to Ohio State,” said daughter Christy Demetry, who also lives in the Short North. “They would drive up Neil Avenue, and I remember going with them and they would be like ‘Oh, look at these amazing houses; wouldn’t it be great to move into one of these some day.’”

Davis decided she wanted to open a bed and breakfast after watching a news story about a German Village woman who ran one. Describing her revelation in a Short North Gazette 2007 interview, Davis said that at that moment, while viewing the feature, she knew it was something she wanted to do. In 1991, after the children had grown, she and her husband, who is a builder-remodeler, left the suburbs and purchased a house on Smith Place. The home, which never actually became a bed and breakfast, was the first of many in the Short North they bought, lived in and renovated. Her talent, though, was more in decorating than rehab, said Don. “I always felt she should have been an interior designer. I wanted her to go to school for it, but she was busy, especially after we bought the bed and breakfast.”

The Davises purchased Harrison House Bed and Breakfast at 313 W. Fifth Ave. a few years after moving into Smith Place, then sold Harrison House to Lynn Varney in 2006. Varney said the Davises became her friends (and neighbors) at that time and Sandy her mentor. “I leaned on her a lot in the beginning. I talked to Sandy daily for a long time and then weekly for the entire time I’ve owned the bed and breakfast.” said Varney. "She was a wonderful, warm-hearted, lovely person.”

When the Davises bought 50 Lincoln Bed and Breakfast in 2004, they continued to run Harrison House until its sale in 2006. By then, after a dozen years in the business, with health concerns and an ailing mother, Davis decided to step back from the day-to-day operation and enlisted Trelene Turner, who had worked at Harrison House, to become manager at 50 Lincoln in 2006. Davis continued to be the front person and take reservations, however. “She was just very warm and very inviting,” said Turner, “so it made my job easy when they walked in the door.” Davis wasn’t able to meet with one of the last reservations she took, but a letter from that scheduled guest stated she felt she had known Sandy all her life even though they’d never met and had only spoken a couple times.

“There’s that part of you that feels like you want to devote yourself to a business like this,” said Turner. “You definitely have a passion, whether it’s the nurturing part – she was a great nurturer, her family meant everything to her.” In fact, her strong role as a mother is something those close to her mention again and again and obviously admire. “The place was packed with friends and relatives at her funeral,” said Harris, “and everybody that knew her always talked about what a good mother she was. Her kids had special needs at the beginning, so that’s why it became her life, you know.”

Their “later baby,” Murphy, was a St. Bernard, said Don. The pup lived with them in their quarters at Harrison House, and briefly at 50 Lincoln until he got old and infirm. Later, they adopted a rescue dog Zoe, a chocolate Lab, who knew a good mother when she saw one and clung to Davis. “She’d only pay attention to me when Sandy wasn’t around,” said Don. "We still have her. She’s quite old right now.”

According to her brother, the two grew up with dogs and Sandy loved them. “Dogs were always a part of her life.”

The Davises’ first grandchild, Charlotte, arrived three years ago. Sandy was elated and looking forward to seeing her grow. “She waited so many years to have a grandbaby and loved her,” said Turner. “I’m a grandma of seven, so I know; we always shared.”

“She was a phenomenal grandmother,” added Varney. “It was a heartbreak for her that she could no longer watch her granddaughter [with her health concerns].”

The Davises traveled when they could, taking their children to Disney World in earlier years and vacationing at their Florida home in the Keys, later enjoying an occasional cruise. “We just took a cruise last February,” said Don. “It was the last one we took, the Western Caribbean.”

He and the children tried to persuade Davis to write about her experiences as an innkeeper and publish a book but never could convince her. “She was very personable and enjoyed talking to people and meeting people from all over the world,” said Don. Guests arrived by way of the Ohio State University, Nationwide and Battelle. “I always told Sandy, ‘you can have a party every day of the week if you want,’” said Turner who, like Davis, is enamored with the bed and breakfast life and continues there as an innkeeper working for the Davis family. “I’ve always felt honored to be able to say that I have this job,” she said.

Davis’s son and daughter can’t seem to praise their mother enough. Demetry says she and her mom talked every day, sometimes several times a day, over the phone. “She was always the strongest person in my life,” she said. “And she was so good, and this is the most important thing about her, she was so good at putting life’s obstacles in perspective, and I think that’s why so many people loved talking to her and I think that’s why she made such an amazing friend and a mom and owner of a bed and breakfast.”

© 2013 Short North Gazette, Columbus, Ohio. All rights reserved.

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