Person Page

Corinne Marie Johnson was born on 7 April 1963 at Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, and was adopted at birth.¹ She is the daughter of Byron Theodore Johnson and Dorothy Hilton Bean. Corinne Marie Johnson married David Kent Hurt on 4 August 1984.

Edward Howe married Ann Kirsten Johnson, daughter of Byron Theodore Johnson and Dorothy Hilton Bean, circa 1996.

David Kent Hurt was born on 21 September 1960. He married Corinne Marie Johnson, daughter of Byron Theodore Johnson and Dorothy Hilton Bean, on 4 August 1984.

Kristen Marie Hurt was born on 24 November 1985 in Los Angeles County, California. She is the daughter of David Kent Hurt and Corinne Marie Johnson.

Kaitlyn Anne Hurt was born on 24 January 1988 in Ventura County, California. She is the daughter of David Kent Hurt and Corinne Marie Johnson.

Michelle Lynn Hurt was born on 19 July 1990 in Los Angeles County, California. She is the daughter of David Kent Hurt and Corinne Marie Johnson.

Willard Kenneth Davis was born on 26 July 1918 in Seattle General Hospital, Seattle, King County, Washington. See attached receipt for $30 for Kenneth's delivery at Seattle General Hospital and also his birth certificate.^1,2,3 He was the son of Elbert Willard Davis and Alice Marie Kingman. Kenneth married Margaret Ellen Bean, daughter of Milo Walter Bean and Mabel Margaret O'Bryan, on 14 June 1941 at St. John's Presbyterian Church, Berkeley, Alameda County, California.⁴ Willard Kenneth Davis died on 29 July 2005 in San Rafael, Marin County, California, at age 87.⁵

Young Kenneth moved with his parents Elbert Willard Davis and Alice Marie Kingman between 1918 and 1920 to 2908 Russell Street, Berkeley, Alameda County, California. This wonderful, old and rather large Craftsman style house is still standing and located just down the street from the Claremont Hotel.⁶

Until the day he died, Willard Kenneth was never known as Willard, but always called Ken, Kenneth, or even Kenny as he was known by family and friends when growing up. He always signed his name as W. Kenneth Davis.⁷

As a young man, Kenneth became an Eagle Scout, he was on the high school ski team and was captain of the UC Berkeley Ski Team with which he raced. He also worked on the ski patrol, and was quite the mountaineer and really enjoying rock climbing (click to see photos).⁷

He was one of the early members of the Sierra Club and his climbing and skiing friends are well-remembered by his children: Dick and Doris Leonard, Kenny Adam, Morgan Harris, Raffi & Torcum Bedayn, Dave Brower, and the Farquahrs, among others.

On October 9, 1936, Ken, along with his life-long friend Kenny Adam and Morgan Harris were the first to climb Yosemite's Royal Arches. To quote from The Yosemite Climbing Association, A Short History of Yosemite Rock Climbing:

     Until now, the Yosemite climbers have shied away from the main cliffs, preferring to climb the lines of least resistance on high points around the Valley or climb the breaks and chimneys between Yosemite’s smooth walls and formations. Morgan Harris has become obsessed with a climbing formation above the Ahwahnee Hotel. For conditioning and training Morgan rides his bicycle to Yosemite from the Bay Area to to climb the route he calls the Royal Arches. After two previous attempts in the last year, one of which ended in a hospital stay for sunstroke (during his bike ride back home in very hot weather), Harris succeeds with Kenneth Adam and Kenneth Davis. They climb the Royal Arches in eight hours, doing two roped pendulum traverses. The top and bottom half of the Arches is separated by a blank looking right facing corner. The men are able to overcome this section by shinnying up a dead tree that has fallen and become lodged across the corner, dubbing it the “Rotten Log.” The Rotten Log was climbed by thousands of climbers until it was pushed off in 1986. The Royal Arches is the first Yosemite climb that goes up the middle of a major wall with no actual summit and soon becomes a Valley classic.

Kenneth and his rock climbing friends probably did hundreds of climbs with many first assents; of them, for posterity, the compiler has found a couple listed in the books.

The first climb of the Spire by the Southwest Couloir (passage) of the Liberty Bell Group in Washington Pass, WA is attributed to Raffi Bedayn, W. Kenneth Davis and Kenneth Adam on July 20, 1937. Possibly Neil Ruge was with them as the report lists Raffi and the Kens, but the summit register was only signed by Raffi Bedayn and Neil Ruge.

Two days later on 22 July 1937, Kenneth Adam, Raffi Bedayn, and W. Kenneth Davis made the first ascent of Cutthroat Peak via the West Ridge, the North Cascades of Washington State (See Summitpost.org)

It was also related to his family over the years that Ken and his friend Kenny Adam were the first to climb a mountain in the Sierras that was named Ken Minaret after the two of them (get more info)

Up until the years shortly before his death, Kenneth remained an enthusiastic skier and hiker, participating in two high treks in the Himalayas with his son Warren and old friends, and always enjoyed reminiscing about his rock climbing days.⁸

Growing up in Berkeley, Ken first attended nearby UC Berkeley and then went on to MIT. In 1940 he received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from MIT. When he and Margaret were married in June 1941, she returned east with him where they lived in Buffalo. Kenneth worked for Ford, Bacon and Davis while finishing up his masters work there, getting his M.S. in Chemical Engineering from MIT in 1942. He was working on his doctorate at MIT but WWII brought that to an end. He tried to get into the Air Force but it was found that he was colorblind. So he then worked for several years in process design and development for what then was Standard Oil and is now Chevron Oil Co.⁹

Margaret and Kenneth returned to the Berkeley area around 1942 where their first two children, Kerry (1942) and Warren (1944) were born. At this time Kenneth was working for Chevron Oil out at the Richmond Refinery. There was a great family area and pool out there which Kenneth and his family and relatives often visited. Kerry has memories of all the bike riding Kenneth did with his pals through the Oakland and Berkeley hills, and of them coming home quite proudly one day with a large and nasty looking rattlesnake they had killed with a rock on a trail.^10,7

In 1947, our family (Margaret, Kenneth, Kerry and Warren Davis) took a trip I, Kerry, have always remembered, where we drove up to Chelan, Washington to visit the Kingman family, my grandmother Alice Marie (Nana) Kingman's relatives (my father's grandparents and uncles). I (Kerry) remember it was a beautiful place, everyone was awfully nice, and I liked playing on the lawn with my "cousins" Ken and Karen (1st cousins, once removed to be accurate). Here are some photos taken by Dad.⁷

Around 1948 Kenneth’s work took him to the Chicago area for a year or so. Margaret and the children followed him by train, a fun trip which Kerry remembers riding in a private car and the orange juice glasses always rattled and then spilled onto the floor -- the family lived in a lovely brick house in Hinsdale, Illinois where Kerry remembers doing snow angels.

In late 1948 or early 1949, Kenneth took a position first as Associate Professor and then Professor of Engineering at UCLA, and the family next moved back to California and the Los Angeles area – living first to Inglewood, where daughter Gail was born in June of 1949, and soon after they moved to a lovely house in Brentwood – numerous neighbors were “movie people” and a son of the original Lassie lived a couple of doors away which thrilled the kids.⁹

Kenneth and Margaret next moved the family in about 1952 up to the San Francisco Bay Area, 15 Cornwall Court in the Oakland Hills to be exact, where he served as Manager of Development and Engineering for a Standard Oil (Chevron) subsidiary carrying out a very large classified project for the Atomic Energy Commission, the MTA, which was the origin of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.⁹

In May 1954 the family was off across country again, moving to Arlington, Virginia. Kenneth served as Deputy Director of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission in 1954, and then as Director of the Reactor Development Division, 1955-58, which included the formation and first years of the Civilian Reactor Branch which were critical to the evolvement of the nuclear power industry during the Eisenhower administration – Lewis Strauss was then head of the AEC. Margaret had a marvelous time enjoying all the Washington parties and really loved attending the inaugural balls too, as Kerry clearly remembers the fabulous 1950s ball gowns being modeled for her. The family met many interesting people in those years, and one fairly frequent dinner guest Kerry also remembers well was Admiral Hyman Rickover who always talked about how children should be in school 365 days a year, no vacations! And girls shouldn’t date until they were at least 21 years old. Rickover worked for Kenneth in the Reactor Development Division and lead the effort to develop the world's first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus – he was a tough guy who butted heads with many people, Kenneth included, but he always had a great rapport and got along well with Margaret. Kerry now has the large resin globe filled with small metal parts which were used in construction of the Nautilus which Rickover gave to Margaret (See attached photo).⁹

In 1958 Kenneth accepted a job as corporate (senior) vice president of Bechtel Corporation in San Francisco and held that position from 1958 to 1981. He was instrumental in establishing Bechtel as the leading engineer-constructor in worldwide nuclear power, and he was also responsible for other energy related developments on a worldwide basis.

Once again, the family zipped on back to California, this time moving to San Rafael in Marin County – renting a house for a year at 292 Fairhills Drive and then buying a lovely house down the hill at 209 Fairhills Drive which Margaret and Kenneth lived in until they died. The kids all went through high school living in this house, college too, although none really lived at home for long.⁹

In 1960 Kenneth and Margaret bought a wonderful vacation house on Lake Tahoe where they spent a lot of time over the years-- Kenneth skied and Margaret spent her time at the piano. The house was sold 40-some years later after Margaret's death and when Kenneth found it difficult to go up to the high altitudes.⁷

Here's a family photo taken at Gail and Chuck's wedding which was held at Margaret and Kenneth's San Rafael, California home on December 21, 1977. Gail and Chuck were married in the backyard and officiating at the wedding was Chuck's older brother Doug Greene. Click here to see the photo!

In 1981 to 1983 Kenneth and Margaret headed back to Washington, DC with the Reagan transition team where Kenneth became "The Honorable W. Kenneth Davis" serving as the U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy, working with DOE Secretary Jim Edwards, a dentist and one time Senator and Governor of South Carolina. Once again Margaret had a great time decorating their DC condo, shopping, and attending all the fabulous parties and various functions. Edwards resigned after a year and Reagan then appointed Don Hodel. Dad finally resigned himself (more info) and came back to California where he continued to work on a consulting basis for Bechtel Corp. He also served as a consultant on management and engineering to several government and private organizations.¹¹

He was a Past Chairman of the U.S. Committee for the World Energy Council (U.S. Energy Association) and was Chairman of the Programme Committee of the World Energy Council from 1986 to 1992. He was a Director of the Atlantic Council of the U.S. He also served as a consultant on management and engineering to several government and private organizations. He had been Professor of Chemical Engineering (Adjunct) at the University of California, Los Angeles, and a Director for the Management Analysis Company.

He served as Chairman/President of the Atomic Industrial Forum, 1964-67, as President of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in 1981, and as Vice President of the National Academy of Engineering, 1978-81, is a Fellow and Former Director of the American Nuclear Society, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. He was chairman of the NAE committee that produced “U.S. Energy Prospects” in 1974.

He was one of the group that organized the American Nuclear Society where he served as a Director and a Fellow. He was an Honorary Director of the Atlantic Council of the United States and a member of the Cosmos Club. He was the founding Chairman and Chairman-Emeritus of the World Efficiency Association. He was a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a charter member of the British Nuclear Energy Society, and a member of the World Future Society and the World Nuclear Association.

Kenneth received the prestigious Henry DeWolf Smith Nuclear Statesman Award in 1993 that is given jointly by the American Nuclear Society and the Nuclear Energy Institute. Among other awards was the National Engineering Award from the American Association of Engineering Societies in 1982.

In addition, he served on a number of advisory boards to several Administrations and the Congress of the U.S., and presented some 200 papers at national and international meetings on energy, engineering, nuclear power, and related subjects. Up to his death, he remained active and in touch with former colleagues, while continuing to write papers on energy and nuclear power.

Up until his death, while his health presented some problems, he remained active and in touch with former colleagues, often via the Internet, while continuing to write papers on energy and nuclear power.¹¹

Kenneth was a brilliant, kind and generous man, he was a patron of the arts and environmental causes. He especially enjoyed opera and classical music and was well known in the Marin music circles mostly due to his wife Margaret. He and Margaret, an accomplished pianist and composer, were married for 57 years until she died in 1998. In addition to his love of music and the outdoors, he was extremely proud of his 3 children and 5 grandchildren, as they were of him. He always had a twinkle in his eye and a chuckle in his voice when he spoke of the grandchildren.

Kenneth died peacefully in his sleep early in the morning of Friday, July 29th 2005. He was at home and in his own bed which was a blessing. He had been frail and in failing health the last few years, although he had a comparatively good year and had just celebrated his 87th birthday three days before his death. He often said he was happy and content, and had lived a very good and productive life -- a life, in his family's eyes, to be quite proud of.⁷

On October 10, 2005, a memorial gathering was held for Kenneth at his San Rafael home, hosted by his children Kerry, Warren and Gail, and his second wife Ann. Ken's grandchildren, relatives, and many old friends and colleagues were there. A number of people spoke, as well as Ken's son Warren, and a eulogy or Celebration of Life was delivered by Ken's old friend and colleague, Ash O'Donnell, which can be read here (click on PDF icon).¹²

The ashes of Kenneth Davis and Margaret Ellen Bean were buried together on 19 May 2006 at Mountain View Cemetery, 5000 Piedmont Avenue, Oakland, Alameda County, California, with most of the immediate family in attendance: Kerry, Warren, Gail, Chuck, Bonnie, Lindsey and Galen. The kids and grand kids moved on to the Claremont Hotel to reminisce about Grand Ken and Grand Margaret while enjoying a lovely brunch which we felt sure they would have enjoyed.¹³

(An added tiny footnote to keep records accurate: On 15 November 1998, after 57 years of marriage and within 6 months of his wife Margaret's death, Kenneth married Ann Nilsson, a woman 17 years his junior, an old music associate of Margaret's. She had been married and divorced many years before and had three grown sons.).⁷

Kerry Suzanne Davis was born on 10 July 1942 in Alta Bates Hospital, Berkeley, Alameda County, California.^1,2,3 She is the daughter of Willard Kenneth Davis and Margaret Ellen Bean. Kerry was baptized on 25 April 1943 at St. John's Presbyterian Church, Berkeley, Alameda County, California, by Pastor Stanley A. Hunter, D.D., on Easter Sunday.⁴

In 1947, our family (Margaret, Kenneth, Kerry and Warren Davis) took a trip I, Kerry, have always remembered, where we drove up to Chelan, Washington to visit the Kingman family, my grandmother Alice Marie (Nana) Kingman's relatives (my father's grandparents and uncles). I (Kerry) remember it was a beautiful place, everyone was awfully nice, and I liked playing on the lawn with my "cousins" Ken and Karen (1st cousins, once removed to be accurate). Here are some photos taken by Dad.⁵

While growing up, from 1942 through 1958, Kerry's family moved around the country a bit as her father Kenneth pursued his career as a chemical engineer.

Kerry was born in Berkeley and lived her first five years in El Cerrito, California. In 1947 the family moved to Hensdale, Illinois. Kerry spent the year or so they were there in bed with rheumatic fever, but it wasn't a bad time at all as Kerry has fond memories of playing with her doll house, being read to (favorites were the Oz books), playing with her younger brother Warren and his "kneeaction" cars, and listening to the afternoon soaps on the radio, not that a five year old really could understand Stella Dallas!

In 1949 the family moved to Los Angeles, California, living first in Inglewood and then Brentwood. Baby sister Gail was born at this time (the same nurse that came home with Kerry's mother Margaret and her baby for a few days -- something they did in those days -- also helped out Judy Garland with her new baby, and didn't mind gossiping about it, which Margaret got a big kick out of). Kerry loved having the new baby in the house and thought of Gail as her very own, living doll -- she had a great time teaching Gail to walk! Kerry's best friend Shelby down the street in Brentwood owned a wonderful Collie named Cubby, an offspring of the original Lassie, and Kerry spent a lot of time playing with them, as well as sampling the horsemeat which was fed to dogs in those days. Shelby's parents were "movie people," and often brought home movies to screen for us kids -- Kerry remembers Lassie and Rin-Tin-Tin, Shirley Temple, and Heidi among others. The highlights of life in the "fast lane" in LA when one is 7 years old -- babies and puppies, and kids' movies!

The family next moved to the Oakland Hills (California) in about 1950 and Kerry almost completed grade school at Joaquin Miller where she was very proud of her job on the traffic patrol directing moms in cars and kids crossing the street. Kerry's biggest focus and pleasure in those years was attending ballet school at Madam Alexandra Switzka's studio in Berkeley, with the added honor and thrill of being asked to help teach the younger children's classes. Miss Switzka was a charming ballerina who had danced with the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo and the children adored her. Her delightful studio was in a wonderful old Maybeck house. To this day Kerry can still smell the rosin for her toe shoes, and picture that charming old house and studio with Miss Switzka surrounded by all the little girls hoping to one day be ballerinas, too.

With the move in spring of 1954 to Arlington, Virginia, Kerry finished the last month of grammar school in Virginia at John Marshall. She continued ballet classes until she was 16 when more important social activities like parties, dating and her first real boyfriend took over her spare time. She undoubtedly was not meant to be a ballerina! She went through Stratford Jr. High and then 10th grade at Washington-Lee High School (both in Arlington) before the last family move was made to San Rafael, California in 1958.

Complete culture shock! Life in California was very different from life in Virginia and DC -- Kerry graduated from San Rafael High School in June 1960, but always felt a bit sad, even now in her early 60s, that she didn't get to finish up high school in Virginia with all her dear friends.⁵

Kerry returned to college in 1976 at age 34, graduating in 1980 from San Francisco State University with a BA degree in Physical Anthropology.⁶

Here's a family photo taken at the December 21, 1977 wedding of Kerry's sister Gail to Chuck Greene, which was held at the San Rafael, California home of their parents, Margaret and Kenneth Davis. Gail and Chuck were married in the backyard and officiating at the wedding was Chuck's older brother Doug Greene. Click here to see the photo!

For many years, Kerry worked in San Francisco, primarily as a legal or engineering secretary. In the 60s and 70s she traveled to Europe quite often, living for a year in Madrid in 1963-64. She moved to Kentfield, California in April 1980 where, to the present time (2008), she has run her own business from an office in her home: Word Weaver, a secretarial service providing word processing and desktop publishing. She enjoys working with mosaics, painting watercolors, scrapbooking, genealogy, reading, and gardening, riding her bike, and now that she's dog-less, sitting and clucking with her hens.

In 1986 and again in 2008, cousin Judy Gale held two wonderful family reunions. Two galleries of these photos can be seen if you click here for the Family Photo Galleries. In time I hope to add more photo albums.

Never having had children, she loved being asked to become involved in her niece Robyn Greene's wedding and plans leading up to it in 2007 -- all the fun without the financial and emotional cost of marrying off her own daughter!

The loves of her life have been her Alaskan Malamutes: Ailis (Samiq's Summer Ailis, 1980-1992), Sophie (Atanik's Awesome New Addition, 1993-1999) and her last girl, Skye (SnoMist's Magic Crystal Skye (12/9/2000 - 2/15/2008, picture attached). After Skye's death in early 2008, Kerry kind of fell, quite by chance, into having hens, adopting two survivors of the nextdoor neighbor's chicken flock's racoon massacre, Little & Lucy; and when Little was killed by a hawk, Kerry acquired three more young hens: Michelle, Jill & Hillary (this was the day before Barack Obama's inauguration which explains the names -- photos attached).⁵

Warren Kenneth Davis was born on 16 July 1944 in Alta Bates Hospital, Berkeley, Alameda County, California. He is the son of Willard Kenneth Davis and Margaret Ellen Bean. Warren Kenneth Davis married Bonnie Carol Nichols, daughter of Harold Nichols and Dorothy Holt, on 2 June 1968 in Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington. Warren Kenneth Davis and Bonnie Carol Nichols were separated in 2000 and eventually divorced in 2003.

In 1947, our family (Margaret, Kenneth, Kerry and Warren Davis) took a trip I, Kerry, have always remembered, where we drove up to Chelan, Washington to visit the Kingman family, my grandmother Alice Marie (Nana) Kingman's relatives (my father's grandparents and uncles). I (Kerry) remember it was a beautiful place, everyone was awfully nice, and I liked playing on the lawn with my "cousins" Ken and Karen (1st cousins, once removed to be accurate). Here are some photos taken by Dad.¹

Warren got his BA in Mechanical Engineering from UC Berkeley in about 1966 and later received an MBA from Stanford.

Here's a family photo taken at the December 21, 1977 wedding of Warren's sister Gail to Chuck Greene, which was held at the San Rafael, California home of their parents, Margaret and Kenneth Davis. Gail and Chuck were married in the backyard and officiating at the wedding was Chuck's older brother Doug Greene. Click here to see the photo!

Warren worked for many years with General Electric in first New York state and then San Francisco. He also worked for Bechtel Corporation and Utah Mining, and then started up his own energy business, Golden Bear, which he sold in the 1990s. He currently works for Black & Veatch.

Gail Marie Davis was born on 17 June 1949 in Santa Monica, Los Angeles County, California. She is the daughter of Willard Kenneth Davis and Margaret Ellen Bean. Gail married Charles Freeman Greene, son of Charles Martin Freeman and Phyllis Saks, on 21 December 1977 at the Fairhills Drive home of Gail's parents, Margaret and Kenneth Davis, in San Rafael, Marin County, California. Gail and Chuck were married in the backyard and officiating at the wedding was Chuck's older brother Doug Greene. Click here to see the photo!

Gail graduated from University of California at Davis in 1972 with a BA in Psychology and minors in Math, Music, and Philosophy.

Gail has worked as a bookkeeper over the years, first in a paying position in 1973 with World College West where she and Chuck met, and later as a volunteer bookkeeper with various organizations, including the Crib Club, the Volunteer Center of San Francisco, and other groups. With many years off to raise children, she returned to work in 2003 as the Fiscal & HR Manager for the Marin Institute. She left that job in about 2006 and among other things spent a good year helping daughter Robyn prepare for her 2007 wedding. These days (2010) Gail is again working at bookkeeping and office management helping Robyn with her dog care business Fetch which has many employees. Gail and Chuck are often called upon to offer home boarding for some of Robyn's doggie clients. Gail also spends a great deal of time just "managing" her family even though none of the kids live at home these days, but they all benefit from Gail's management skills, including husband Chuck! She keeps them all on track and things moving smoothly.¹