STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

Tell us about it

• What would you add to this story? Tell us what we missed.
• Do you have photos from this event? Documents we need to see? Share with us.
• Upload photos & videos
• More ways to get your stuff online and in the paper.

More Latest News

• Collier schools summer bus schedules announced
• Report: UCF players tell of intense workout, coach cursing before Plancher's death
• Traffic enforcement locations for Collier, Lee

Share and Enjoy [?]

On the last day of his life, family members and a few friends gathered in the room with state Rep. Mike Davis when the Rev. Dennis Harten came to see him.

“That smile, it was on his face that day,” Harten said. “There was no pain, no suffering. Indeed he was with his God.”

Harten officiated Saturday at the memorial Mass for Davis at St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic Church, attended by 650 members of the community and colleagues from Tallahassee to honor Davis and his 30-year legacy of unselfish giving to others.

“We know that Mike Davis had sewed himself in the fabric of our lives,” Harten said.

The 1-and-1/2-hour service, a traditional Catholic Mass that symbolized Davis’ faith, also reflected his sense of adventure and quick wit for which he will be remembered.

Equally so, longtime friends say Davis’ dedication to helping the underprivileged was unparalleled. Now the task is finding a fitting way to memorialize Davis, who died Wednesday of cancer.

He was 60.

Also participating in the ceremony was Southwest Florida Bishop Frank Dewane. The bishop called to participate after Davis was awarded this past spring with the Defensor Dignitatis Award by the Florida Catholic Conference in Tallahassee, Harten said.

Davis is survived by his wife, Patricia Shullo, his son, Christian, daughter Natasha, and granddaughter, Mia.

“If we could really do something for working families, I think that would be important to Mike,” said George Barton, a longtime friend who met Davis in the early 1990s.

They worked together on a new state initiative for a children’s health-care program and later to help address indigent care in the community.

Davis, R-Naples, represented District 101 in the Florida House. The district encompassed eastern Collier County and parts of western Broward. He was elected in 2002. Before going to Tallahassee, he was a businessman in Naples who spent countless hours serving on civic committees to help shape the rapidly changing community.

“We would be here until tomorrow afternoon if we talked about all the things he did in the community,” Harten said.

During his five years in the state Legislature, Davis sponsored legislation that created the Southwest Florida Expressway Authority, signed into law by then-Gov. Jeb Bush in 2005. Likewise, he crusaded for affordable housing.

In August, Davis announced he wouldn’t seek re-election, citing long-term health issues, to his House seat when his term ended in 2008.

On Thursday, the day after his death, the Economic Development Council of Collier County named him “Outstanding Volunteer of the Year” -- he had been selected for the honor prior to his death.

“He was just a prince of a man,” said Carole Green, a former state representative from Fort Myers who is now secretary of the Florida Department of Elder Affairs. “We say a person’s word is their bond and he lived it. He cared about people who didn’t always have a voice.”

Gov. Charlie Crist arrived five minutes before the start of the 11 a.m. service, sitting in front of the church with state lawmakers and members of the Collier County Commission.

Davis’ closed casket was draped in a white cloth in recognition of his baptism and symbolic of his joining God.

Harten shared stories of Davis and his reverence for his family, particularly for his grandfather. During his sophomore year in high school, he bet with a friend that he could get out of taking physics and he succeeded.

Davis loved riding off-road vehicles and motorcycles, and his first entrepreneurial venture was selling parts for off-road vehicles.

One motorcycle-riding companion years ago was Collier County Sheriff Don Hunter.

“He was very enjoyable to be around,” Hunter said at the service. “He was a remarkable man, a remarkable legislator and a remarkable friend.”

Davis’ wife of 35 years, Patricia, spoke at the end of the ceremony and reminisced about their courtship in college, how he once accidently drove a Jaguar up the 10 steps to her dormitory and their first time together on an ice-skating rink.

“He gave it a good shot,” she said.

Following the Mass, Davis’ casket was moved to the church entrance and the white cloth was removed and replaced with the United States flag.

Moments later, Hunter and Crist participated in the flag presentation ceremony to the family. And outside the church, the Collier County Sheriff’s Honor Guard played taps. Davis was a Vietnam War veteran with the U.S. Coast Guard, honorably discharged in 1969.

“It was wonderful,” Collier Commissioner Tom Henning said of the ceremony. “It’s all about Mike.”

U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, said the ceremony was heartwarming.

“You can’t be a great man without being a good man and he was a good man first,” said Diaz-Balart, who represents part of Collier.

Crist described Davis as someone understanding of the importance of serving the populace.

“We lost a dear friend and a man of grace,” Crist said. “We need to carry on and serve with his honor, with grace.”

The governor said he would leave it up Davis’ wife to decide how to memorialize her husband.

“I’ll support whatever she wants,” he said.

The family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Hospice of Naples and the Immokalee PACE Center for Girls. Davis was to be cremated following the service, according to Fuller Funeral Home.