Mattie E. Davis

Mattie Elizabeth Davis, 91, of Robinson, IL, passed away in the comfort of her home, surrounded by the love of her family, on Friday, May 29, 2026. She was born in Russellville, KY, on October 18, 1934, to Robert and Thelma (Sweat) Taylor, and she grew up between Russellville and Auburn, KY. She was the only girl among her brothers, which meant she learned early how to hold her own. They liked to put snakes in the mailbox to scare her, so she took to rolling a stone up to the box and easing it open from a safe distance to see what was waiting inside.

Mattie graduated early from Auburn High School and went straight to beauty school, and before long, she was working in a beauty shop in Russellville. After a while, she bought it outright and ran it herself for a number of years. A beauty shop is more than chairs and mirrors, though. It is a place where people talk, and Mattie became a keeper of confidences in those years, a listening ear who never repeated what was said to her. That discretion became part of who she was. For the rest of her days, people knew that whatever they told Mattie stayed with Mattie.

She married Milos "Jack" Davis on June 10, 1966, and his work would steer the course of their life together. It led their family to Benton, IL, where she had assumed that she would continue her career. However, the state's licensing laws would have required her to take more instruction from those she felt knew less than she did, so rather than start over to prove what she already knew, she set the scissors down and decided to become a homemaker.

Jack became an insurance agent, and the work eventually brought them to Robinson, where Mattie helped set up the town's original Wal-Mart, store number 425. She ran a tight ship there and trained a great many employees over the years. In fact, she was good enough at it that they sent her to help open and train at other stores. She was so well-regarded that she was once chosen to travel to Arkansas with associates from across the region for a shareholders' meeting and had breakfast at the home of Sam Walton with the Wal-Mart founder himself! For all of that, what people remember is the candy. She kept gummy bears in her pocket for the children who came through her line (and for a few of the adults, too), and her line was nearly always the longest in the store because of it. She gave Wal-Mart 25 years, and her last day was the day the original store closed, before the Super Wal-Mart opened in the building it now occupies.

Mattie was a southern lady, and she had grit to match the grace. She was, by every account, one of the most wonderful people you could know, the kind who was there for you through thick and thin. Family came first, always, and anyone her children or grandchildren brought through her door was treated like family the moment they crossed the threshold. No one walked away from her house hungry, thirsty, or feeling like they hadn't been heard. There was always macaroni and cheese on hand, or homemade potato soup if you were under the weather, and lemon bars were a permanent fixture. To the grandkids and all their friends, she was simply "Mimi." That same southern grit had another side, however. Once the company had gone home, she was not shy about letting her family know if someone shouldn't be invited back (usually on account of the language they'd used at her table). She held a standard, and she held it without apology. She was the glue that kept the family together, and she never stopped looking for ways to help other people.

That open door opened onto one of her favorite places in the world, her home at Westlake. Deer crossed the yard as if they owned it, the birds came to her feeders, and the hummingbirds were her particular delight. She and Jack filled the place with parties and gatherings over the years. But she loved the world beyond the lake, too. Travel was one of her great joys, and Jack's work in insurance opened the door to a good deal of it, letting the two of them see much of the country together.

After he passed in 2004, the urge to go out went mostly quiet, but she found other ways to spend her time. Many of them had to do with words. She was a genuine speed reader who raced through books until her eyesight finally gave out, and she never lost her appetite for crosswords, word puzzles, and Scrabble, eventually carrying the games over to her tablet in recent years. Her vocabulary was something to behold, and she could spell just about anything you handed her.

But the words that mattered most to her were the ones she'd learned at church. For many years, she and Jack belonged to Highland Church of Christ, where she taught Sunday school, and they later joined New Hebron Church of Christ for a season. But you didn't need to sit in a pew beside Mattie to know what she believed. She loved Jesus, and the surest place to see it was not in anything she said but in how she lived. The welcome, the patience, the way no one ever left her house feeling unheard, that was her faith at work. She let her life do the talking. Mattie spent 91 years making people feel welcome. But now, the table she kept set for everyone else has been set for her. And we believe she has heard the welcome she gave so freely all her life: "Come in, you're family here."

She is survived by her children, James "Steve" (Diane) Riley of Wisconsin, Tanya (Don) Gullett of Flat Rock, IL, and Jack (Nina) Davis of Robinson, IL; her stepdaughter, Donna Harper of Georgia; her grandchildren, Byron Nash, Ronnie (Tammy) Davis, Stephen (Katie) Riley, Heather Davis, Cody (Veronica) Murphy, Dalton Davis (and his longtime girlfriend Loren Healy), and Samantha Davis; her great-grandchildren, Keah Wesley, Kayden (Brandon) Shook, Rylee Murphy, Ryan Murphy, Henry Riley, Graham Riley, Rylye Davis, Jackson Davis, and Aedan Davis; her great-great-grandchildren, Blakeleigh, Brystal, and Braylyne Stout, with another on the way; a brother, Joe Taylor of Cadiz, KY; and several nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Jack; three brothers, James Douglas Taylor, Jack Kenneth Taylor, and Alphard Leroy "Pete" Taylor; her step-son, Ron Davis; and her son-in-law, Don Gullett.

It was Mattie's wish to be cremated, and a private graveside service will be held at the Robinson New Cemetery. Memorials may be made to the Robinson Food Pantry, with envelopes available at the Goodwine Funeral Home in Robinson, which is assisting the family at this time.