Katherine Davis BS ’67

02/27/2018

Katherine Davis BS ’67 writes: “In spring of 2017, I performed as a ‘cigarette girl’ in the chorus of Carmen on the Broad Stage at Santa Monica College’s Performing Arts Campus. We sang in French, rehearsing two nights a week. It was fun, but exhausting. I was going to take the summer off, but I miraculously got a teaching job at a private school in Westwood and had six wonderful weeks teaching ESL to several levels of students from every country. I also sang in a small chamber choir and in a ‘Singing for Our Lives’ concert. We celebrated diversity; protested injustice; and sang for love, for the elderly with Alzheimer’s, for the legacy of Dr. King. I have six grandkids, including two girls, who are 21 and 15, from my stepdaughter. The eldest studied film at the University of California at Santa Cruz and has an amazing band called GAL PAL; her sister is studying art at a magnet school. My eldest son, a Georgetown graduate, has a beautiful German wife and four children; they live in Manila, Philippines. After editing a book for an Italian law professor who is writing in English, I’ve decided to study Italian. So, I’m taking Italian–plus creative writing and a vocal performance workshop–at Santa Monica College with the hope of eventually going to Milan and having more work there. I continue to publish some of my poetry on a WordPress blog called Scarlet Letters.”

02/15/2017

Katherine Brown Davis BS ’67 fondly remembers her time at Lewis & Clark, especially helping Professor William Stafford grade papers. She still has a note from him that says, “Please go easy on them.” As a lifelong lover of music and singing, Davis has sung in the Westwood Presbyterian Church choir for 40 years. She has two sons, a stepdaughter, and six grandchildren, four of whom live in Manila, Philippines (although their mother is German). Her two older granddaughters are in Los Angeles. Davis studied mythology at Pacifica Graduate Institute and is now studying music, theatre, and journalism; performing opera; and working as a writer and editor. She writes as Katherine Lansing, and her poetry and song lyrics can be read on the WordPress blog Scarlet Letters. She has also contributed to a libretto titled Creation: The Tale of Our Birth. She lives in Santa Monica, California, but misses Portland and Lewis & Clark very much.

10/14/2016

Katherine Davis BS ’67 reports that, since 2011, she’s been at Santa Monica College, where she’s done six plays—including Sweeney Todd, which she did in a wheelchair because she had broken her foot in rehearsal. She’s also performed in several musical theatre workshops, finally landing a solo as Frau Blucher singing “He Vas My Boyfriend” from Young Frankenstein, the musical. She just finished singing chorus in opera excerpts on the Broad Stage for Carmen and The Magic Flute, among others. “Having so much fun!”