A few days ago, the Enterprise
carried an obituary on one Miles Nicholson who recently died at age 94. It includes
the text that he “was mayor of Davis for two terms in the 1950s and ‘60s.”
I did not think much about Mr. Nicholson until Rich Rifkin asked me to help check out information on him for the purpose of a possible public commemoration of his service as a council member.
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DE, 7-13-57 |
I was puzzled by this until I began to realize that this
pattern is seen in the lives of a number of other Davis elected officials,
especially those serving after the end of WWII. Indeed, some of our most famous
still-living elected officials left town long ago, Bob Black, Richard Holdstock,
Joan Poulos (semi), Tom Tomasi, Sheryl Freeman, and Susie Boyd among them. And there are a
number of less famous ones who left, as well as those who almost won seats and
left.
In post #13 dated October 9, 2011 on this blog, I reflected
on what I took to be the curious fact that DHS graduates leave Davis in
massively high percentages and that only one DHS graduate has ever been elected
to the City Council (and very few graduates who remain in Davis run for
Council)*

- - - > By the
way, my checking on Mr. Nicholson could not confirm service as mayor. He was,
though, appointed to a partial council term (1957-60) created by the
resignation of a member who left town (!!) & was elected to one term (1960-64)
in which he served as vice mayor.
Addendum: While
writing the above, a memory of stenciling on the heating-cooling duct work in
my home came to mind. Taking a camera into my basement, I took the snapshot
seen at the top. (Notice that Mr. Nicholson ran his business from a building in the
300 block of G Street. Downtown Davis now of course welcomes boutique shops
more than enterprises as sweaty as sheet metal duct work.)
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DE, 4-21-60 |