YEOVIL NEWS: A good teacher is like a candle and Ken Davy illuminated the classroom

FAMILY and friends of well-known Yeovil teacher Ken Davy attended his funeral service at Yeovil Crematorium earlier this month.

Mr Davy, who had been a much-respected and liked teacher at Huish School in Yeovil from the early 1970s to the 1990s, died on July 16. He was aged 89.

The service – held on August 3 - was led by celebrant Tracey Reeves and there was standing room only in the chapel as people came to pay their respects.

Tracey said: “Thoughtful, caring, hardworking; the ultimate perfectionist yet nobody is ever entirely perfect, and many of you will surely know that Ken did indeed have a weakness - Jelly Babies!

“Renowned for his sweet tooth, sadly it seems he must have felt poorly during his final days, as this was only time that Ken was ever heard to say that just “one jelly baby was enough.”

He was born in Yeovil on September 18, 1933, and the family home was in Westland Road where he lived with his parents and two sisters, Joan and Janet.

PHOTO - TOP: Ken Davy during his younger days.

PHOTO - RIGHT: Ken Davy's funeral service was held at Yeovil Crematorium on August 3, 2023.

Mr Davy was a young lad during the Second World War and the war came very close to home for him when a desperately sad, life changing event took place. A lone German bomber dropped its load directly onto a house adjacent to his, killing his friend Trevor Hoyle.  This tragic loss stayed with Mr Davy throughout his life. It had a profound effect upon him.

Yeovil Press editor Steve Sowden, who was a pupil of Mr Davy’s at Huish School in 1981-82, said: “I can always remember him telling us the story about Trevor Hoyle. It was so sad – I can still him in my head telling us. Every time I see the name of Trevor on the war memorial in The Borough I think of that story and now it will hold even more special meaning to me following Mr Davy’s passing.”

Mr Davy had a lifelong thirst for knowledge. In his younger days he attended Huish School and, passing his 11-Plus, he went on to Yeovil Grammar School.  Later, Mr Davy was to become a proud member of the school’s Old Boy’s Association, serving as both secretary and treasurer.

On leaving school Mr Davy gained an apprenticeship at Westland Helicopters as an electrician. He then worked as an engineer maintaining local Telephone Exchanges.  

Aged 18, Mr Davy was called up for National Service, which he spent in the RAF. It was an experience he did not particularly enjoy, nevertheless he was glad he did it, benefitting from the many life skills it taught him.

Mr Davy met his future wife Pauline at Reg Allen’s School of Dancing, here in Yeovil and they married on February 28, 1959, at St John’s Church.

Mr and Mrs Davy moved to Wells where their three children - Richard, Nicholas and Rose were born. He was employed by EMI and during this period spent three years working in Paris.

Although life was good, he was never really completely happy with his career choice, and so decided to retrain to become a teacher.  And so it was in the early 1970s when he got his first teaching job at Huish School – the school he had been a pupil at.

The family eventually moved back to Yeovil and set up their beloved home at Ilchester Road.

Mr Davy briefly taught at Grass Royal School, however he returned to Huish, where he went on to became Deputy Head and by the time he retired in the early 1990s he was Acting Head Teacher - hence his midlife career change had obviously not only been the right choice for him, but it had also benefitted so many of his former pupils.

Some of his former pupils attended his funeral service – a fine testament to a great teacher and an even greater man.

PHOTO - ABOVE: Ken Davy as a teacher at Huish School in the early 1970s – pictured in the front row second from right.

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