Jean Davies: Making Others Happy

With nearly every ounce of energy Jean Davies exudes, someone benefits from her spirit and service.

Those she serves come from every walk of life — young children, families, veterans, senior citizens and community members who are in need of a helping hand.

Davies has been an avid and active volunteer, who has lived her life in service of others. The Los Lunas woman is a resident of the senior living community, Jubilee, and looks forward to making a difference when ever and where ever she can.

“Jean truly goes above and beyond to make her community and the world we live in a better place,” said friend and neighbor, Jeffrey Caldwell, who nominated Davies as a 2024 Unsung Hero. “Educator, proud veteran and a selfless volunteer, Jean has served her country, the village of Los Lunas and the Jubilee community ...”

Davies and her husband, John, retired and moved to Los Lunas from Cheyenne, Wyo., 10 years ago, primarily for the beautiful, warm weather. While John, who passed away a couple of years ago, had been to New Mexico a few times before, Jean had not.

“I had no idea what to expect ... and we had come a few times during that year during different seasons, and we fell in love with it,” said Jean, who remembers thinking Los Lunas was a small and quiet community.

Having retired from being a longtime, fifth-grade school teacher in Wyoming, Jean said she and John found they enjoyed the calmness of Valencia County and appreciated the friendly folks they met here. When they first moved to the Land of Enchantment, she started to get a little antsy and needed to find something to do, some way to contribute to her new community.

“I was always active. John was always a good support. He was always involved with me,” Davies said. “He did all the stuff that you don’t see. He was my unsung hero.”

For much of their marriage, the Davies enjoyed being active together, including being zealous hikers, who enjoyed traveling to different national parks. When they moved to Los Lunas and saw what they had in their backyard — El Cerro de Los Lunas — they were hooked.

“That’s the first thing John said when we came to Jubilee, ‘Jean, there’s a mountain in our back yard,’” she said.

Her love of hiking and helping has lead Davies the gift of assisting someone who may have never had the opportunity to enjoy the outdoors.

“One thing that I’m doing now is there’s a lady in our community who is sight impaired, and she wanted to go to the top of El Cerro,” Davies said. “We’re going up in little increments. I actually did King of the Hill with her. We came in last, but we were just delighted.”

Along with volunteering on a couple of local nonprofit boards, Davies has a passion for veterans — maybe because she’s one as well.

When she was newly married, John was in the U.S. Marine Reserves, and Jean was working on Capital Hill in Washington, D.C., for U.S. Rep. John Moss. She recalls the day an Army recruiter came into the office to talk.

“I was 27 years old and it was 1974, and he thought it would be very good for me. He told me it would be helpful and would open me up to what the military was all about,” she said.

During her four years in the U.S. Army Reserves, Davies was assigned in Quantico as an administrative assistant. She was also working as a journalist and was able to visit and work at different missile sites. She remembers feeling a sense of pride and honor for serving.

“... the main focus in everything that we did was for country,” she said. “They talked a lot about serving the country, serving the people. I learned right away that the military was a large factor in the country’s growth and progress. Without the military, we wouldn’t have the freedoms we had. I felt a lot of pride being a part of it.”

With the respect she has for military men and women, Davies made it a point to volunteer for an organization that honored those who served in the armed forces. That’s when the Davies found Los Lunas Invests in Veterans (L.I.V.E.), a local non-profit created to raise funds to support Valencia County veterans organizations. The primary fundraising event sponsored by L.I.V.E is the annual Believe in Heroes Memorial Run, usually held in early June. They have also sponsored a Veterans Day celebration at Daniel D. Fernandez Memorial Park every November.

It was nine years ago when Jean and John learned about the fledgling organization. Jean was recruited to join the board by Jim Schnitzler, one of the founders of the group.

“I got involved because I was a runner,” she said. “I used to wear a bib with the name of a military member who passed in one of the wars. What ever medal I got from the race, I would write a letter to the parents or spouse or family member to tell them the medal would never measure up to what their service was, and I ask them to accept my medal in remembrance and honor of them.”

Davies said Schnitzler saw her bib, and encouraged her to join the organization, which she did in 2016, and has been with the organization ever since.

Along with being involved with L.I.V.E., Davis has also organized a Memorial Day event for eight or nine years at Jubilee.

“We are honoring those who have passed. The ceremony focuses around that, and we have the Jubilation singers there, and we have someone plays “TAPS,” she said. “During the service this past year, we had anyone who had anyone who had someone pass in the military light a candle.”

Not one to sit back and take a long break, Jean was also looking to help others who are at risk when she found La Vida Felicidad, a local nonprofit — including the Friends of the Los Lunas Public Library and Museum of Heritage and Arts — that provides services to children and families, adults and seniors in several counties in New Mexico, including Valencia.

“I wanted to find something where people were dedicated to the same things I was,” said Davies, who has served as vice president on the board for the last couple of years. “I started volunteering on the board in 2016. I went in for a meeting, and what impressed me more than anything was there were so many young women there who were so knowledgeable and compassionate for the community.”

Volunteering with La Vida Felicidad gives Davies an opportunity to hear from the community and what the needs are and how she and the organization can be helpful.

“I think everyone is in search of happiness, and I think the art of happiness is to make other people happy and you can make their life a little easier,” she said. “A retiree has lived a long time, and we know how difficult life can be.

“I really feel that getting out and making time for the community and helping someone lets people know you care,” she said. “It’s important that we help our neighbors and the people around us in any way we can. I’m prioritizing people now more than anything else.”