To honor her 60 years as Executive Director, the Picayune Housing Authority building as dedicated in the name of Mary Ellen Formby Davis.
“She started working here as a smoothed faced young lady and finished just weeks before she died, and didn’t miss any days in between; and didn’t want anyone else to either,” Mark Formby, member of the Workers’ Compensation Commission and Davis’ nephew, said.
Davis grew up just across the tracks from the Picayune Housing Authority building on Haugh Ave., running around the area, which was filled with corn fields instead of houses at the time, Formby said.
“Time marches on and I stand here today in what used to be nothingness. Now, there’s a building dedicated to one of the great founders’ wife and mother, a park where a hospital stood that was dedicated to one of the founders who is now gone. Now, there lies a park that carries that name. We do that here. We try and recognize those that give their lives to a mission,” Formby said.
Davis’ dedication to her profession sprouted from her father, who had a vision that was unthought-of before his time. Her father had a dream in a time where there was not a lot of rental property, to provide a safe place for young couples, specifically with children, to start a life and be around other families.
As she got older, Formby said Davis carried on her father’s dream, expanding the business and continuing to provide a safe place for young families to start their lives together.
“She got to live her dream, and that’s the best thing anyone could ever accomplish in life,” Formby said. “We are here to honor her work ethic, dreams and memory by dedicating this building to her with the hope that someone else will grab her dream and continue the legacy just as she did.”
The Formby family and the Picayune Housing Authority Board members thanked the city of Picayune for dedicating the building in Davis’ honor.