Betty Kellner Davis, 96, formerly of Chestnut Hill, a retired bank officer and a longtime community volunteer, died March 2 at Foulkeways in Gwynedd where she had resided since 2004.
Mrs. Davis had been a senior trust officer at what was then Girard Bank until her retirement in the 1990s. Earlier she had been a buyer at Strawbridge & Clothier department stores and was a researcher at the Securities Research Bureau in Philadelphia. As a teenager, she had acted in several afternoon TV soap operas.
For many years she had been a volunteer at the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania and had served on the arboretum’s Grounds Committee.
Paul Meyer, executive director of the arboretum, said Mrs. Davis had been a long-serving volunteer at the arboretum and had worked physically in its gardens until about two years ago.
“She had a wonderful, warm personality and was loved by all of the arboretum’s staff,” he said. “She was a sweet, sweet person.”
She also was a longtime volunteer at the Chestnut Hill Library and had served on committees for the Main Street Fair, an event that benefited Chestnut Hill Hospital. She was a member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and had served on the Vestry and on the Altar Guild and Blood Drive committees.
A story in the Chestnut Hill Local of May 8, 1980, reported that Mrs. Davis had assisted at the birth of her twin grandchildren when her daughter Priscilla Ann “Petie” Mroczek had gone into labor suddenly while staying at her mother’s home. The babies were delivered by two Northwest Community Ambulance Corps volunteers who said Mrs. Davis, who had taken natural childbirth classes with her daughter, acted as her coach during the delivery. At the time, Mrs. Mroczek’s husband was in Georgia where he had started a new job.
Raised in Erdenheim, she was a graduate of Springfield High School and received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania. After graduation she trained at Bamberger’s department store in New York and Washington, D.C.
Her marriage to James N. Davis in 1943 ended in divorce.
In addition to her daughter, Mrs. Davis is survived by four grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 25 in the auditorium at Foulkeways, 1120 Meetinghouse Rd. in Gwynedd, with a reception to follow. – WF
