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‘Her warmth drew people to her’

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Marjorie Davis with flowers from her garden (Photograph supplied)

Marjorie Davis, who endured bombing raids as a nurse in Britain during the Second World War, has died. She was 95.

Ms Davis, a lover of jazz and politics and a daughter of doctor, civil rights activist and politician EF Gordon, devoted much of her life back in Bermuda to her daughters Sandra, Moira and Sharon.

Moira Stuart became a fixture in British living rooms for decades after she became the BBC’s first black woman news presenter in 1981.

For many Bermudians, Mrs Davis was known through the legacy of her father in labour and politics.

She described Dr Gordon in 1993 as “a brilliant, complex man who had strong philosophical convictions”.

Born in Roseau, the capital of Dominica, to Edgar and Clara Gordon, Mrs Davis came to Bermuda as a toddler with her family in 1924.

For her parents, and especially for Dr Gordon, the move brought “tremendous challenges”, she recalled for this newspaper in 2003.

Ms Davis told The Royal Gazette: “My father and my mother, who shared his vision for social justice, brought their passion and commitment to bear and fought the good fight to try to right the wrongs they saw.”

Mrs Davis, aged 14, and her sisters were sent to a convent school in Britain, where she endured the rigours of wartime.

She was married first to Harold Stuart, a Barbadian lawyer, but the two separated and she met and married Eric Davis.

A family statement said Ms Davis was “simply irreplaceable”.

It added: “Marjorie’s life had been hard and often harsh. Yet her warmth, her generosity and her fascination with life drew people to her, including co-workers and others who became lifelong friends and admirers.”

Mrs Davis spent her later years in Nova Scotia, Canada, living with her youngest daughter, Sharon Murdoch.

Marjorie Davis with her daughter, Moira Stuart (Photograph supplied)
Marjorie Davis with daughters Sharon Murdoch, left, and Moira Stuart (Photograph supplied)