Berkeley woman was no stranger to protest

Oakland Tribune, Jul 19, 2008 by Doug Oakley

Being an out-of-the-closet communist in 1950s America was no easy task.

But Mary Davis of Berkeley, known to friends as "Bolshevik Mary," was up to it.

Friends and family say Davis, a San Francisco native, was a true activist for workers, peace and justice until the very end. She died July 7 at age 87.

Just about anyone who is politically active on the left in Berkeley -- and there are plenty -- knew Mary Davis.

"She was still having meetings and going to rallies and sitting there in her wheelchair holding picket signs against the Iraq war," said her son, Owen Davis.

"I kept telling her, 'Mom, this is for younger people now. We don't want to get you hurt.'"

Owen Davis said he once asked his mother about memories of red lights, stars and yelling in the darkness. Turns out mom brought him on violent picket lines in West Oakland, where she battled to bring a union to a General Electric factory at which she made light bulbs on an assembly line.

"She carried me in her arms on the picket lines, hoping the police would spare her a clubbing, because they were pretty brutal," he said.

"I remember seeing lights and flashing and these big silver stars on the chests of the police and a lot of screaming and hollering and pushing."

Don Jelinek, a Berkeley City Councilman from 1984 to 1990 who lived across the street from Davis, said her activism spanned from her neighborhood to the world.

"The most famous neighborhood thing about her is she would alert the entire block about street sweeping day so we all wouldn't get tickets," Jelinek said.

"She would go door to door yelling. If someone died, if someone was ill, if someone needed help, if anything happened, she would be knocking on your door. She was just a dynamo around here."

Davis is survived by three children, Owen, Medeline Davis and Robbin Davis.

A celebration of her life is planned at 3 p.m. Aug. 9 at Chaparral House, 1309 Alston Way in Berkeley.