Class of 1977
When Dee Montford Davis ’77 arrived at Eckerd College in 1973, she saw more than a bustling campus: she saw the fulfilment of a promise she had made to herself years earlier.
Growing up in Atlanta as the second oldest of six children, college was never a given. She recalls sitting as a family at the dinner table when the topic came up.
“My father said, ‘If both of you wanted to go to college and I had to make a choice, I would choose your brother.’” She recalls him explaining, “You’re a girl. You’ll grow up and get married, and your husband will take care of you.”
Dee (back left) poses with the cheerleading squad
Dee’s answer was in her mind only but was firm: she would go to college, and she would take care of herself. And when she received an academic scholarship to Eckerd, that dream was made possible. Years later after a long career in special education, she still remembers the moments that guided her on that path.
Stepping onto campus Eckerd, she found herself in a different environment than what she had grown up with in Atlanta. She had never been away from home for an extended period of time, and when her father learned that boys could visit her dorm in Alpha House, he almost refused to leave her there. But she assured him she would be all right, and she carved out a vibrant social life for herself, even helping to found the Eckerd cheerleading team.
Dee as a student
“It was as if the African-American students were an island set in the middle of an oasis,” she recalls, but she made it her mission to get to know people. “People are people, and when you get to know them, you build relationships … that’s what becomes important.”
Those early lessons in understanding and connection would become a hallmark of her career. At first a psychology major, Dee’s trajectory changed when she volunteered in a Saturday tutorial program for children living in St. Petersburg’s public housing.
“I saw the light in the eyes of the kids when they finally got a concept that changed my mind, touched my heart, and led me to change my major,” she says.
She added elementary education to her studies, a decision that would shape the rest of her professional life.
After graduation, she worked in both private and public schools, specializing in special education. Her journey took her from Atlanta to Houston and back again, from teacher to assistant principal, and eventually to earning her doctorate in educational leadership. She also taught college courses for educators.
“For me, it was a journey. It was an adventure,” she says. “I have never stopped teaching.”
Even when she retired at the age of 58, Dee’s classroom simply changed shape. Becoming a master gardener and a health coach, she began working with preschoolers to teach them what “real food” tastes like—and with seniors to make small changes for better health.
On-campus near the dorms
“Everything that I learned throughout my life, I pulled it together to help others,” she says, from a child planting broccoli or a retiree growing salad greens on a patio.
Dee Davis ’77 (second from right) reconnects with former classmates at Reunion Weekend 2025 (left to right: Herbert Ford ’75, Nay Malloy Howell ’75, Robin Shallcross ’75, Janice Brogdon ’77).
Through it all, Dee has carried Eckerd’s lessons with her, not just from the classroom, but from the relationships she built.
“It was invaluable—the challenges, the diversity, the curriculum,” she says. “I’ve met lifetime friends that have helped me along the way. I learned that relationships are important in life. You don’t know everything and you can’t be an island to yourself.”
