The Rev. Robert L. “Rel” Davis

The Rev. Robert L. (Rel) Davis, 75, died Nov. 1, 2011. A native of Gainesville, TX, he was the son of the first Baptist missionary to the Sioux. He graduated from Wayland University, Plainview, TX, and continued with graduate work at the University of Montana. He was ordained by the Unitarian Fellowship of South Florida and served as their minister for 30 years. Prior to that, he had served as assistant minister of the UU Church of Fort Lauderdale. Later in life he became interested in genealogy. He first published his father’s memoirs of some 400 pages, inserting not only photos into the text but also newspaper articles and other material. In recent years he had collected records on his family going back to the 1600’s. He also helped his wife, Edith Sloan, research her family and from this work they published two volumes of 750 pages. His latest hobby had been publishing books for family and friends. He used a POD publisher on the web via “Lulu.” He put in long hours and got good results. At the time of Rel’s death, he and Edith were planning to do further research on her family tree. He is survived by his wife, two daughters, a brother and a sister.