
Kirkwood Mayor Liz Gibbons presents Curt Davison with a proclamation during Davison’s 100-year birthday celebration held Feb. 20 at Moss Field At Alumni Stadium near Hixson Middle School in Webster Groves. | photo by Junebug Clark
George “Curt” Davison of Kirkwood turned 100 on Feb. 20. For his birthday, the longtime runner wanted his entire family to join him for a 100-yard “dash or brisk walk” at Hixson Middle School in Webster Groves.
Family members and friends flew in from all over the country to celebrate this milestone. One granddaughter even traveled from Rome to be there. Included were all five of Davison’s children, 10 of his 12 grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.
The track was covered in snow, but that didn’t deter this hearty bunch. Kirkwood Mayor Liz Gibbons joined in the celebration, along with her husband, former Kirkwood City Council Member and Missouri Congressman Mike Gibbons.
The snow has long since melted, but Davison is still feeling the warmth from all of the love that day. Mayor Gibbons presented Davison with a proclamation for his 55 years as a resident of Kirkwood, highlighting his World War II U.S. Navy service, athletic and career accomplishments. She designated Feb. 22, 2025, as “Curt Davison Day” in the city of Kirkwood.
“It was just such an honor, given that I grew up in the same neighborhood and knew the family. It has special meaning,” said Mayor Gibbons.
Additionally, State Sen. Tracy McCreery presented Davison with a resolution, and an American flag was flown over the U.S. Capitol on his birthday in his honor. It will be delivered with a national proclamation from U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner.
Following a spontaneous snowball fight, the guests embarked on what turned out to be a 400-meter brisk walk, led by the guest of honor himself.
“Dad could have kept going, but he didn’t bring snowshoes or skis with him,” his youngest son Duane Davison said.
The Runner
Davison and his wife, Gerry, have five children, ranging in age from 60 to 72 — Darlene, Scott, Darren, Sharon and Duane Davison.
It was Duane Davison who got his dad into running.
“I came home from track practice one hot day complaining about how tired I was,” he said. “Dad is a man of few words, but the look on his face said, ‘Suck it up! I’ve been through the Depression and World War II.’”
Duane Davison challenged his dad to run the 2-plus miles from the house to the bus stop.
“It almost killed him, but he made it and never stopped,” he said.
Davison began training at Hixson’s track and Moss Field five days a week since it was open to the public, free of charge. In 1985, he began competing in track and field in the Senior Olympics, Show-Me State Games and World Senior Games. He has amassed thousands of medals and trophies in events he can readily rattle off — the 50-meter, 100-meter, 200-meter and 400-meter runs, running long jump, high jump, shot put, discus, javelin, weight throw, and hammer throw.
Davison is a World Senior Olympian, achieving two titles in track and field. He has attained 150 local, regional, national, and world records. He still holds an age-group world record in the hammer throw for the age 90 to 94 category.
At 95, during COVID, he was sidelined by a mild stroke, which dashed his plans to break every record when he turned 100.

World War II veteran Curt Davison served in the U.S. Navy and achieved the rank of Petty Officer 2nd Class. | photo by Miki McKee Koelsch
The Veteran
Davison was born and raised less than 60 miles from New York City. He went into the Navy when he graduated high school in 1943 and achieved the rank of Petty Officer 2nd Class.
Boot camp was at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center in Chicago, followed by electrician school in Detroit. He served on a destroyer escort in the Atlantic Theater and went to the South Pacific.
“The first combat I saw, after going through the Panama Canal, New Guinea, Borneo, and all through the Philippines, was in the battle of Leyte Island,” said Davison.
His squadron went to many Pacific islands and was caught twice in typhoons.
“The ship would roll and go underwater practically,” recalled Davison. “Near the end of the war, we were in Lingayen Gulf in the Philippines near Manila. That’s when kamikaze planes started coming in. A ship next to ours was hit.
“One of our last major duty trips was escorting all the troop ships from the Philippines to Okinawa, but then they dropped the bomb,” he continued. “A lot of Japanese lives were lost, but they claim if they had invaded Japan, it would have cost one million American lives.”
Davison married Gerry when he got out of the service. They were together for 57 years until her death in 2006.
“We went to high school together. When I went in the Navy, she said, ‘Write a letter to me,’ and it went from there,” Davison said.
Stateside, Davison worked for the Atomic Energy Commission as an assistant athletic director. Although he had never taken art before, he went to Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, and got a degree in advertising design.
Davison had a long career with advertising agencies in New York City, Mexico City, Dallas, and then St. Louis, from which he retired.
Not one to sit around in retirement, he started a job in Casablanca, Morocco, writing and producing a TV commercial.
“The Minister of Tourism in Amman, Jordan, then asked me to stay and redesign all their tourist materials,” said Davison.
While on the 2016 Honor Flight, Davison met and became good friends with Sgt. Ken Luttrell, a Marine veteran, who was wounded at Hiroshima. George Despotis from Des Peres, an authority on World War II, gets them and three more area World War II veterans together every other week for different activities.
Davison’s children are all amazed by their dad’s level of fitness.
“My dad is not only 100 years old, but has perfect hearing, is cognitively in excellent shape and physically moves like a person decades younger,” his son Darren Davison said, noting his dad is rarely sick and doesn’t take any medications. “Dad’s most common statement on growing old is to ‘keep moving,’ which he did in spades.”
The World Traveler
When Davison was young, he always wanted to travel.
“Up until the military, I’d never been outside of my hometown. I had never even been to New York City,” said Davison. “It was during the Depression. We didn’t even have a car.”
He was fortunate to be able to do a lot of international traveling with his wife — Costa Rica, Turkey and Spain — after they finished raising their children.
Following the death of his wife, Davison cruised with his lady friend Pat Mann to places such as Montenegro, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Iceland and Egypt.
Davison can even boast of traveling around the world.
“One of my favorite places was Thailand. The people there are so nice,” he said. “In St. Petersburg, Russia, all the walls in every building are gold leaf. And there’s no place in the world like Venice, Italy.”
The Mentor
“My advice to young people is to get off your cell phone,” said Davison. “Eat right and keep moving. Don’t become a couch potato and think good thoughts.”
There will be no rust setting in on Davison. He plans to continue walking the long staircase to his living area, steep driveway and neighborhood streets as he enters his next 100 years.
“I wouldn’t do anything differently,” he said. “I’ve led a good life.”