Mr. Frank Davis, a faculty member of Zama American High School for many years, passed away on March 14, 1998. When the last KAKI-MONO was sent out, Mrs. Sadako Davis sent me a note letting me know that her husband had passed away. Those of you who knew and took classes from Mr. Davis will remember him fondly of his wit and intellectual aura, which he projected.
I will miss him greatly. He used to contact me about getting discounted JAL tickets so he and Mrs. Davis could go back to Zama often. I was in contact with him while I was working in Manhattan, but when I moved here, I didn't talk to him as much. He let me know last year that he was suffering from a genetic respiratory disorder and was unable to travel any more, and had no hope of recovery. I had put on a previous message about his condition in my presidential message, and some of you had been kind enough to send a card.
-Al Miyatake '66
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Fred Esch (1969)
Mr. Davis was one of my most liked teachers. He was quite passionate about the French and Latin languages, had lots of stories to tell, which most of us ignored, but I do remember that he in his rather dated (short and wide neckties), projected an aura of knowledge and class in my eyes. I think he laughed a lot at our antics, was pro-student in his positions and exhibited an intellectual sense of humor. He became a favorite of many students at the annual recognition fav teacher assemblies.One of my key memories is that which couldn't gotten him fired if it had occured today. He gave me and another classmate the responsibility of selecting an French movie to go view as a French 3 fieldtrip. I selected a movie titled something like "Isabelle and Marie" or two other girls names. It turned out to be a movie about two adolescent girls discovering their lesbianism. After the movie, on the bus, all he said was "Well, not much discussion needed on that".
Robert Myslinski (1982)
I had Mr. Davis for Spanish and in my first week of class, I have never laughed so hard. Here was a character straight out of a story book, complete with high intelligence and comical quotes, a deadly combination. He would say things like, "Mr. Myslinski, you look rather healthy today. Why don't you go up and erase the chalkboard." However, my favorite was when he was trying to convey that enunciating was very important and that "It could save your life." Of course, we're all wondering what the heck is he talking about and ask him to explain. He starts, "Well, once I was drowning off the coast of Mexico..." Mr. Davis then says he couldn't think of the word "Help" in Spanish so he yelled it out in Latin and luckily the locals understood him. I believe he spoke close to 8 different tongues, a true linguistic genious. Thank you Mr. Davis for making your classes enjoyable and sharing your wealth of knowledge with all of us.