January 12, 1921 – December 19, 2010
Isabell was born in Washington Township, Green County Iowa to Walter Preston Root and Margaret P. Armstrong Root. She was preceded in death by her mother, father , brother Henry Root, two sisters: Effie Reed and Evelyn Tingwald, her ex-husband Lawrence E. Davisson, and her daughter Marilyn Davisson.
A graduate of Rippey Consolidated School in 1938, Isabell completed Normal Teacher’s Course at Iowa State Teacher’s College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and taught all eight grades of rural school for five terms. A “Country School Teacher,” she endured frosted feet from walking to school each morning carrying a lunch bucket. Before her classes began for the day, she had to start a coal fire in the heater, sweep floors with oily sawdust, clean the stone water dispenser and fill it at the well pump, and sweep out the outdoor toilets. Isabell was known as an effective teacher who taught classes ranging from five to twenty-four children with dispatch.
Isabell married Lawrence Davisson at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri on August 29, 1942. A son, Marvin, was born in 1946 and a daughter, Marilyn, in 1951. Isabell and Lawrence owned and operated a dairy farm near Wausau, Wisconsin and later grain production farms in Minnesota and Iowa. She was an accomplished pianist and gave piano lessons as well as helped with farming. In the 1960s she was a staff reporter for the Fairmont, Minnesota Sentinel. After their divorce in 1973, she worked as a Certified Nurse Aide until seventy-four years of age when heart trouble, followed by cancer, compelled her to retire to Bakersfield, California to be close to her son and grandchildren.
Isabell’s hobbies included painting, genealogy, and travel. She made many trips around the United States and took her oldest grandson on a trip to Europe. Isabell enjoyed working in the kitchen of the Gathering Place at Wesley United Methodist Church until she became too disabled to continue. She enjoyed many family dinners with her grandsons and their wives and her great grandchildren. Isabell was well known for valuing her privacy and resided alone until the last day of her life.
She is survived by her son, Marvin Davisson and his wife Beth; grandsons, Karl Davisson and wife Shawna of Bakersfield; Eric Davisson and wife Estee and their children Wyatt and Geneva of Temecula; Brian Davisson and wife Melissa of Seattle; and Leif Davisson and wife Holly of Bakersfield.
A memorial service will be held for Isabell at 10:00, Monday, December 27 at Wesley Methodist church. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made toward the refurbishment of The Gathering Place where Isabell spent so many happy hours after she moved to Bakersfield, in care of the Memorials Fund, Wesley Methodist Church, 1314 Oswell Ave, Bakersfield, CA 93306.