Jed Horace Davis, Jr.

Memorial services for Jed Horace Davis, Jr., 93, Lawrence will be held July 31, 2015 at 10:00 a.m. at Warren-McElwain Mortuary in Lawrence. Private family inurnrment services will be held after the service at Memorial Park Cemetery.

He passed away Monday, May 25, 2015 at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.

Jed was born July 31, 1921, in Stillwater, MN the son of Jed Horace Davis, Sr. and Margarita C. (Culver) Davis.

He served his country in the United States Army during World War II.

Jed received his bachelors, masters and doctorate degrees in theater from the University of Minnesota. He previously taught theater and creative dramatics classes at Macalester College, St. Paul, MN, and Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI before arriving at Kansas University,

He jointly authored two text books on theater for children and was nationally known as an innovator and advocate for connecting children with theater as an art form and means of expression. He is a charter inductee to the Kansas Theater Hall of Fame and was an emeritus professor of Theatre at the University of Kansas, retiring in 1986.

He married Elizabeth Jane (BJ) Crosby on August 4, 1945, in Litchfield, MN. She preceded him in death on Dec. 19, 2002.

Survivors include his daughter, Julie K. Davis of Lawrence; son, John C. Davis and daughter-in-law, Linda, of Salina, KS; three grandchildren and one great-granddaughter. He was preceded in death by his parents, brothers Robert and Culver, Sr., sister Mira Elizabeth, and a son, Brian T. Davis.

The family suggests memorial contributions to the KU Endowment ~ Brian TenEyck Davis Award (KU Theater Department) or The Children’s Theatre Foundation and may be sent in care of Warren-McElwain Mortuary, 120 W. 13 ^th Street, Lawrence, KS 66044.