By SHANE PEKNY
J Alumni News staff
Call it a thank-you note from four generations of NU graduates.
Josephine and Woolsey Davis started donating to the College of Journalism and Mass Communications in 1991. They gave every year, and when it came time to pay for the renovation of Andersen Hall, they didn’t disappoint.
To recognize these longtime, dependable donors, the college named its conference room in their honor. Faculty will use the Davis Conference Room primarily for administrative meetings, said Dean Will Norton.
Josephine Davis’ father, Joseph Berggren, started the family tradition at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln when he enrolled in the law college. He graduated in 1905.
Her husband, Woolsey Davis, studied business at NU, and Jo Davis graduated from the Teachers College in 1931.
Their daughter, Barbara Hollenbeck, also earned a degree from the Teachers College. Their son, Bill Davis, graduated from the university’s electrical engineering program in 1965.
Hollenbeck’s daughter, Lisa Paradise, represents the fourth and latest generation to graduate from NU. She earned a degree from the College of Journalism and Mass Communications in December 1990.
Josephine and Woolsey Davis gave the journalism college $10,000 in 1991, Norton said, and they’ve given at least that much every year since.
The college started a fund in their name, and it now contains more than $100,000.
Jo Davis said she was grateful for the opportunities the university had given her family. She especially thanked the College of Journalism and Mass Communications, where her granddaughter studied.
She called the family’s relationship with the university “very special.”
The Davises and Nortons have been close friends for the past 10 years. Norton said his grandchildren consider Josephine Davis their second grandmother.
After she graduated from the university, Davis moved to Nebraska City and taught vocal music at the local public schools. Woolsey Davis, who farmed most of his life, died in 1998 after suffering from heart disease. His widow still lives in Nebraska City.
On game days, Norton would reserve a parking space behind Avery Hall, the old home of the journalism college, which sits just southeast of Memorial Stadium, so the Davises wouldn’t have far to walk. Woolsey Davis was a fan of Husker football, Josephine Davis said, but his heart condition made traveling to games difficult.
“He was absolutely delirious about the Huskers,” she said.
And with their donation, the Davises have expressed their affection for the university in a way that will benefit Huskers today as well as many to come.