When snowstorms hit Denver, Dennis Layne Davis liked nothing better than hopping into his big pickup truck and smashing through snowdrifts.
Davis, 49, who died Dec. 20, would coax Kelly Hiett, his partner of five years, and his dog, Samson, into his truck, and off they’d go busting drifts.
A carpenter and craftsman who took great pride in woodworking details, Davis was also an outdoorsman and all-around cut-up who loved children.
“He loved to dance. He danced to anything and everything,” said sister Laurella Sue Davis. “He made all us girls feel good. If we didn’t have anyone to dance with, he would drag us out onto the floor.”
Born in Lubbock, Texas, on Oct. 15, 1957, Davis personified “big as Texas.”
He came from a big extended family; he had more than 200 cousins on his mother’s side of the family. He liked big trucks and big boats. And of course, Samson – Davis’ 6-year-old Newfoundland/Labrador retriever mix – was big.
Davis often took Samson to play in water, and the dog tagged along on a 2005 vacation to South Padre Island, Texas, Hiett said.
It was hard to tell who enjoyed the water more, Davis or Samson, she said. One thing was for sure, they rollicked in it together every chance they got.
Davis moved to Colorado from Texas with his family as a youth. He attended Lakewood High School. He owned a carpentry business, Dennis Davis & Associates, which framed homes and specialized in exterior and interior trim work.
A scuba diver, Davis also was a hunter and avid off-road driver. But he didn’t need four-wheel- drive to venture off the beaten track.
“He took us out walking in the middle of the woods in the middle of the night,” longtime friend Debbie Robison-Murphy recalled of a high-country camping trip. “I swear we heard bears, but he said Samson would protect us.”
Robison-Murphy said Davis liked wearing Hawaiian-style shirts year round.
The night before he died, Davis was in his garage building a custom fireplace insert to plug cold drafts that were sweeping down the chimney of his Littleton home.
“He just got this wild hair and was so happy out there building this thing,” Hiett said.
The next day, Hiett found Davis collapsed on the kitchen floor from an apparent heart attack. Emergency responders rushed Davis to Swedish Southwest ER, where he died. He was cremated. Services are pending.
He is survived by Hiett; his mother, Robbie Davis of Alamo, Texas; two sisters, Laurella Sue Davis of Conifer and Lauri Joseph of Morrison; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Staff writer Kieran Nicholson can be reached at 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com.
