Rash's Surname Index
Notes for Sally Canby PAXSON
Sally Paxson Davis, 68, of Radnor, chairwoman of the Academy of Vocal Arts, died of leukemia July 4 at Waverly Heights in Gladwyne.
Mrs. Davis had led the board of the academy, a tuition-free opera training school in Philadelphia, since 2001. During her tenure, students won numerous international competitions and received contracts for leading roles at opera houses, including the Metropolitan, La Scala, and Convent Garden, said K. James McDowell, the academy's executive director. Mrs. Davis was active in fund-raising and close to the faculty and students, he said.
Mrs. Davis' grandmother Helen Corning Warden founded the school in 1934, and her mother, Adele Warden Paxson, was a benefactor and chairwoman when she died in 2000.
There was lots of music in her family, Mrs. Davis told a reporter in 2003. Her father, Henry, a lawyer who served as the academy's president and headed two local opera companies, played violin and viola.
Her mother played the piano, and Mrs. Davis sang. She studied for several years with Academy of Vocal Arts teachers and performed in the Opera Company of Philadelphia's chorus as a young woman.
She had happy memories growing up on her family's horse farm in Bucks County, she said, and remembered when Luciano Pavarotti came for lunch in the early 1980s. He brought his saddle, but didn't ride.
The farm, Elm Grove, had been deeded to the Paxson family by William Penn.
Mrs. Davis attended Springside School in Chestnut Hill; Foxcroft School in Middleburg, Va.; and Bradford College in Haverhill, Mass.
In 1967, she married Robert L. Davis. They had met at the beach in Cape May.
Though born to privilege, Mrs. Davis faced several challenges, said her son, Douglas. Once an accomplished equestrienne, she was thrown from a horse at 16 and in a coma for two weeks. She had to relearn the simplest tasks, her son said. In 1995, her husband suffered a stroke, and she helped care for him, their son said. She battled breast cancer in 2003, and the leukemia was diagnosed 17 months ago.
Mrs. Davis enjoyed the symphony, museums, fiction and poetry. Though she had tremendous love for the Academy of Vocal Arts, her family came first, McDowell said.
In addition to her husband and son, Mrs. Davis is survived by a daughter, Caroline Claytor, and two grandchildren.
A Funeral Mass was said July 11 at St. Katharine of Siena Church in Wayne.
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