Florida Senate - 2015 (NP) SR 12-A By Senator Joyner 19-00030-15A 201512A__ 1 Senate Resolution 2 A resolution remembering the remarkable life and 3 public service of former Senator Helen Gordon Davis 4 and expressing a profound sense of loss in her 5 passing. 6 7 WHEREAS, Helen Gordon Davis was born on December 25, 1926, 8 in New York City, and 9 WHEREAS, when she was just 15 years old, Helen Gordon Davis 10 became a “Powers Girl,” modeling for the John Robert Powers 11 Agency in New York City, and 12 WHEREAS, Helen Gordon Davis earned a degree in theater from 13 Brooklyn College and appeared in George Bernard Shaw radio plays 14 on New York City’s WNYC, and 15 WHEREAS, in 1948, Helen Gordon Davis and her husband, Gene 16 Davis, moved to Tampa, and in 1953, they built a home in Davis 17 Islands, where they raised their three children, Gordon, 18 Stephanie, and Karen, and 19 WHEREAS, Helen Gordon Davis wholeheartedly embraced the 20 role of wife and mother and continued to pursue creative 21 endeavors by teaching high school drama and acting in community 22 theater, where she won two Gaspar Awards, and 23 WHEREAS, Helen Gordon Davis went on to earn a master’s 24 degree in theater from the University of South Florida, and 25 WHEREAS, Helen Gordon Davis’s striking good looks paled in 26 comparison to her intellect, wit, integrity, and determination, 27 which she demonstrated throughout her personal and public life, 28 and 29 WHEREAS, in the 1950s, Helen Gordon Davis emerged as an 30 unlikely champion of civil rights after a bus driver refused to 31 allow her black housekeeper to sit with her children in the 32 front of a city bus on a shopping trip, and 33 WHEREAS, shortly after the fateful shopping trip, Helen 34 Gordon Davis marched down Nebraska Avenue, children in tow, to 35 join the local chapter of the NAACP, becoming the first white 36 woman in Florida to hold NAACP membership, and 37 WHEREAS, the indomitable Helen Gordon Davis went on to join 38 black patrons at a Woolworth’s lunch counter to press for 39 desegregation of Tampa’s public facilities, and 40 WHEREAS, in 1974, Helen Gordon Davis became the first woman 41 from Hillsborough County elected to the Florida House of 42 Representatives, where she encountered dismissiveness and, in 43 some cases, hostility from a number of her male colleagues, and 44 WHEREAS, despite this adversity, Helen Gordon Davis held 45 fast to her commitment to fight institutionalized injustice 46 against women, minorities, and the poor, championing legislation 47 to benefit displaced homemakers and to ensure equal pay for 48 women and minority state workers, and 49 WHEREAS, Helen Gordon Davis was reelected six times to her 50 seat in the House of Representatives and in 1988 was elected to 51 the Florida Senate, where she served with great distinction for 52 one term, and 53 WHEREAS, with her husband, Helen Gordon Davis provided the 54 financial support for the founding of Tampa’s Centre for Women, 55 a pillar of support for victims of domestic violence and women 56 facing financial ruin after divorce, which now bears her name, 57 and 58 WHEREAS, Helen Gordon Davis was the first recipient of the 59 League of Women Voters of Hillsborough County’s Lifetime 60 Achievement Award and was inducted into the Hillsborough County 61 Women’s Hall of Fame by the Commission on the Status of Women, 62 and 63 WHEREAS, in an interview with the Tampa Bay Times, Helen 64 Gordon Davis’s daughter, Stephanie Davis, remembered her mother 65 as “a fierce warrior and a vanguard for social change who raised 66 us all to be strong and independent and to follow our own path,” 67 and 68 WHEREAS, Helen Gordon Davis changed the face of the 69 Legislature by challenging strongholds of discrimination and was 70 fearless in fighting for the rights of all Floridians, NOW, 71 THEREFORE, 72 73 Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida: 74 75 That we pause to remember the remarkable life and public 76 service of our friend and former colleague Senator Helen Gordon 77 Davis and express a profound sense of loss in her passing. 78 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution, with 79 the Seal of the Senate affixed, be presented to Gordon, 80 Stephanie, and Karen Davis as a tangible token of the sentiments 81 of the Florida Senate.