Colleagues recall Davison as devoted to Englishtown Popular resident served for 36 years on Borough Council

Staff Writer

By dick metzgar

Colleagues recall Davison
as devoted to Englishtown
Popular resident
served for 36 years
on Borough Council

ENGLISHTOWN — For more than half a century Oscar Davison was an Englishtown institution.

For 49 years Davison was a public servant, 36 of them as a Borough Council member, where he served as council president and acting mayor. The rest of those years were spent on the borough’s Plan-ning Board.

Those who knew him best over those years said he was one of the best-liked individuals in town.

Davison, 89, died July 11 at the Manor by the Sea, Ocean Grove. Born in neighboring Monroe Township, Middlesex County, he had lived in Englishtown since 1927. He was employed as a sales engineer for the M&T Chemical Co., Matawan, from 1929 until his retirement in 1972.

Monmouth County Freeholder Ted Narozanick recalled that when he returned home to Englishtown in 1945 after serving in the European Theater during World War II, Davison was a member of the council. When Narozanick was elected to the governing body several years later, Davison was still there.

"Oscar Davison was on the council when I became a member," said Narozan-ick, who served seven years as a councilman and 12 more years as Englishtown’s mayor. "He was a very energetic gentleman. He helped younger council members without hesitation. He knew the town and he knew all the people. He was very supportive when he was on the council."

During World War II, Davison was Englishtown’s civil defense director.

Narozanick recalled that Davison lived on the road to Jamesburg, Route 522.

"He was very involved in his community," Narozanick said. "I remember that he loved flowers. He was a great one for growing flowers."

As a matter of fact, Davison was a member of the Gladiola Society.

Current Councilman Harry Soden recalled that an aging Davison encouraged him when he decided to run for the council in the late 1980s.

"You would be hard pressed to find a nicer individual," Soden said. "Oscar Davison knew the town, and I never met a person who disliked him. He was still very active with the town when I joined the council in 1988. Everybody who knew him respected him. You listened to him because he always knew what he was talking about."

Davison was also very involved with his church. He was a member of the Garden State Baptist Church, Old Bridge, and the former Sanford Memorial United Methodist Church in Englishtown where he was a lay leader, a licensed Methodist Church minister, a former chairman and secretary of the official Board of the Church, superintendent of the church Sunday School and former choir director.

"I remember him from when I was a young girl attending Sunday school," said Joyce Stipple, a former councilwoman and currently a member of the Planning Board. "He seemed to know so much, and he was always helpful to everyone. I don’t think anyone in Western Monmouth County ever served longer on a governing body."

Stipple recalled that it was Davison who got her interested in politics.

"He was a Republican, but he was very community minded," said Stipple, who served nine years on the council until 1990. "He loved the world of politics, and if he found out you were interested in politics, he was very supportive and loved to talk about them. He got me interested in running for the council and later encouraged me to become a member of the Planning Board. He was very much loved in the borough."