MIDDLEBURY — Dale Davis leaves behind a legacy of art and love in all who knew him. Dale died suddenly of cardiac arrest on Dec. 13, 2023, in Middlebury. He had been struggling for many years with the effects of Lyme disease.

He was born Alvin Dale Davis, on Nov. 1, 1943, in Chicago, Ill., to Violet L. (Hill) Davis and Alvin W. Davis. Dale’s family moved often, living in Ohio, Illinois, Florida and New Orleans. As a young man, he continued in this travel mode, living in Mexico for three years, California, and back to New Orleans before settling in Austin, Texas, in 1973. He had been learning the construction trade along the way and Austin was a perfect place to land. He met his wife, Pam Haefner, an artist, in the summer of 1976 at Spellman’s, a dive bar with astounding music and people. The friends they made there, including David Bayless and Scott (Catfish) Stephenson, have been lifelong.

In 1977, Dale finished building a house on Lake Travis with partner Hal Chesner. He and Pam married that year at their friends Junius and Malia Johnson’s house. The next year they lived on the bayou in Ocean Springs, Miss., where daughter Katherine Violet Davis was born in 1978. Dale worked for Covacevich Shipyards that year, building the fine woodwork in the galleys of their boats. He had a strong love for the ocean, but they missed Austin and moved back to live there. Pam visited Middlebury in 1977 with her stepfather. He had just bought land there, and she fell in love with Vermont. In May of 1981 they followed Pam’s dream and moved to Middlebury. The move was just in time for the birth of their second child, Nathan Dale Davis.

While Dale was a skilled builder and lover of tools, he also had a passion for painting and sculpting. Pam and Dale’s shared love of art erupted when they founded the Studio Arts Center in Middlebury (behind Greg’s Market) in 1996. There they created a space for young people to tap into their creativity in an afterschool program. As a child of the 1940’s and 1950’s, Dale had struggled with undiagnosed dyslexia and ADHD. He and Pam had created the kind of safe harbor that he had needed as a child. The studio gave Dale an opportunity to develop his own art and he could be seen during that time sculpting marble pieces in downtown Middlebury on Main Street and near the falls in Frog Hollow. His work was shown in locations throughout Vermont, but Dale often said that the Studio Arts Center was one of the accomplishments that he was most proud of.

He is survived by his wife, Pam Davis; his son, Nathan Davis, of Warren, Vt.;, and daughter, Kate (Davis) Freeman and husband Lee, and his grandchildren, Max Freeman and Sam Freeman of South Burlington, Vt.; also his sister, Linda (Davis) Petrach and her husband Dan of Sarasota, Fla.; and cousin Mary Uhlig, of Spring Branch, Texas. He will be missed by family, Amy (Oliver) and Dan Beaupre of Middlebury, Jill (Oliver) and Mike Rose of California, and Susan Mock and Dan Freeman of Middlebury, as well as Pam’s extended family in Louisiana, the Solars, the Andries, and the Haefners, along with the Bigners of North Carolina, and his many friends and former students.

Dale was predeceased by his parents, Vi and Al Davis.

Dale had a green burial, per his wishes, in Middlebury on a hill in the woods on Dec. 21, attended by family, friends, and a crew from the Art Studio days. The family would like to thank them all for their skills and help to make it happen despite the challenges created by the flood earlier that week.

There will be a celebration of life planned for the Summer Solstice. Details to come.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Turning Point Center in Middlebury or The Carving Studio & Sculpture Center in West Rutland, Vt.