Judith Anne Davis, a woman of grace, warmth, and boundless hospitality, passed away peacefully in Camden, Maine, on April 25, 2026, after a lengthy and courageous battle with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. She was 85 years old.

Judith was born on October 4, 1940, in Boston, Massachusetts, to James P. Collins and Catherine Viola Lavin. She spent her earliest summers on the shores of Cape Cod, where her parents had built a beloved family retreat on Wing’s Neck at the Cape Cod Canal in Pocasset, Massachusetts — a place that would forever hold a special place in her heart and in the hearts of all who gathered there with her.

She earned her Bachelor of Arts in English from Suffolk University in Boston in 1962, and her intelligence and drive were evident from the very start of her professional life. She was among the youngest graduates to be promoted through Jordan Marsh’s prestigious Executive Training Program, going on to serve as Assistant Buyer — a distinction that spoke to the determination and leadership she would carry throughout her life.

It was during her early career at the American Council on Education in Washington, D.C., where fate intervened in the most wonderful way — it was there that Judith met the man who would become her husband and the love of her life, James Ronald Davis, known warmly to all who loved him as “Ron.” Together they built a warm and joyful home, settling in New Jersey where they put down roots and raised their three children from 1970 to 1991. During those years, Judith distinguished herself professionally as well — serving at American National Bank in Morristown, New Jersey, and as a real estate agent with Weichert Realtors. She later joined Tiffany & Co., where she served both as a Buyer — a role she absolutely adored — and at the company’s Distribution Center in Parsippany, New Jersey, where colleagues praised her as a true asset to the organization.

In 1991, Judith and Ron relocated to Georgia, where James had family, and they made their home there together until 2001. Judith then moved to upstate New York, where she lived alongside her daughter Meredith and granddaughter Bennett, keeping family close as she always had. In 2005, she followed her heart north to Camden, Maine, where her daughter Katherine had settled — and two years later, Meredith and her family joined them there as well, making Maine the place where the whole family could finally be together. It was in the beauty of midcoast Camden that Judith would plant her final and most cherished roots, working at Bank of America before retiring and embracing Maine’s rugged beauty as her own.

Throughout every chapter of her life, Judith was known for her warmth and her gift for bringing people together. She was an avid gardener who could coax beauty from any patch of earth, a gracious hostess who could turn any dinner into a celebration, and a devoted player of mah-jongg and bridge. She was a proud member of the Rockport Garden Club, the Women’s Club of New Jersey, and the bridge club — communities that reflected her love of connection and her lifelong investment in the people around her. She was, above all, a wonderful homemaker in the truest and most loving sense of the word.

Judith was preceded in death by her beloved husband, James Ronald Davis, and by her brothers James Collins and Terry Collins, who she now rejoins after too long apart.

She is survived by her three children: her son, Patrick Bradford Davis; and her twin daughters, Katherine Elizabeth Davis and Meredith Anne Davis Lyon. She leaves behind four cherished granddaughters — Bennett Gabriel Palmer of Maine, Nina Sophee Davis of Maine, Isabel Davis of Georgia, and Angelica Davis of Georgia — and two precious great-grandchildren: Ann Leigh Grace Palmer of Maine, nearly 3 years old, and Odin Valentine Latterner of Maine, age 11, both Bennett’s children, who carry the newest and brightest threads of Judith’s remarkable legacy forward — and who knew her best by the name she cherished most of all: Lala. She is also survived by her dear siblings Susan Collins and Kevin Collins of Louisville, Kentucky.

In her final moments, Judith was surrounded by those who loved her most — her daughters Katherine and Meredith, her granddaughters Bennett and Nina, and her great-granddaughter Anna — a circle of love as warm and full as the life she had lived. And in a final, fitting nod to the woman she had always been, Lala — who never met a morning she particularly cared for — waited until nearly lunchtime before she gently departed this earthly plane. Even at the very end, she did things entirely on her own terms.

Judith Anne Davis lived with elegance and intention — a woman who made every house a home, every table a place of belonging, and every life she touched a little more beautiful.

She will be deeply missed and forever loved.

Please join us in celebrating Judith on June 14th from 1- 4pm at Sea Dog Restaurant in Camden, ME.