Obituary of Wenda B. Davidson

    Wenda B. Davidson, age 81, of Deerfield, NY passed away at Wynn Hospital in the early morning hours of July 21, 2024, after dealing with numerous health issues for several months. Born in Saranac Lake, NY on April 30, 1943, she was a daughter of the late A. Howard and Janet (Yorkey) Bartholomew of Whitehall, NY. After the end of World War II, her family moved to the little town of Benson, Vermont. She attended Fair Haven high school in Fair Haven VT, then went on to the University of Vermont where she graduated in 1966, with a degree in Home Economics Education.

She married Robert Davidson in 1967 and the couple went to El Paso, TX where her husband served for two years as a Lieutenant in the U. S. Army at Fort Bliss.

   Wenda, called Wendy by her friends, had worked for more than 35 years as a substitute teacher for Whitesboro High School. She sincerely cared deeply for all of the students and was always ready to talk with any one of them about their problems and their successes. During her career at Whitesboro high school, she had a positive effect on many lives, over two generations. Every student that she had a conversation with either knew, or quickly learned, that she was genuinely interested in them, their ambitions, their problems and their future. She granted special permission to the Whitesboro seniors to call her “Harley” (an honorific reference to Harley Davidson Motorcycles.)

     Wenda was also one of the biggest fans of Whitesboro football, and rarely missed a game during all the years since she started working there in 1985. Early on, she ordered jackets which proved to be very popular with all the players. To this day, you will see men in their forties and fifties wearing them at Whitesboro football games. She was always helping the players to be psychologically ready for their games. In one game back in the 1980’s, a player fumbled the ball during a very important play, and became quite discouraged about it.  On the first day back at school after that game, Wenda gave that player a piece of Velcro and told him to put that Velcro somewhere on his shoulder pads, and as long as he had it there, he would not fumble the ball again...and he never did fumble again! Soon after that, many players came to her and said, “Mrs. Davidson, can I have a piece of that Velcro?” For most of the years since then, Wenda has been giving pieces of Velcro to many Whitesboro football players. All the players knew that she was one of their greatest supporters. Last year, she had men in their forties come up to her and say, “Mrs Davidson, I still have every piece of Velcro you gave me.”

     The first date Wenda had with her husband, 62 years ago, was to attend a University of Vermont football game. Little did he know at that time that he would still be taking her to football games 61 years later. Wenda insisted that he take her to every away game that Whitesboro played, no matter where it was or what the weather happened to be: like the state semi-final game last year against Vestal. where they sat in the rain at night in Vestal to watch Whitesboro win and go on to the state championship game.

     Most importantly, Wenda was a wonderful wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt and friend. Her husband often commented that “no one, anywhere, has a better wife than I do. There are undoubtedly a few fortunate guys who have a wife as good mine, but no one has a better one.”

     Wenda was pre-deceased by a younger sister, Susan (1947-1977) due to cancer.

Wenda is survived by her husband Robert Davidson; their son Thomas Davidson and daughter-in-law Claudette Davidson of Stittville, NY; grandson Michael Davidson and granddaughter Cadence Davidson, both of Stittville; her sister Lynn Enny and brother-in-law George Enny of Whitehall, NY; her brother Richard Bartholomew and sister-in-law Brenda Bartholomew of Phoenix, AZ; brother-in-law Lloyd Davidson and sister-in-law Marcia Davidson of Clearwater, FL.  She is survived also by several nieces and nephews and grand-nieces and grand-nephews.

     Visitation for family and friends is Saturday, July 27, 2024 from 11:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. at the Heintz Funeral Home, 408 Herkimer Rd., N. Utica, followed by a funeral service at 1:00 p.m. at the conclusion of visitation. She will be laid to rest in W. Schuyler Cemetery.