Alfred 'Fred' Davenport

Sioux City - Alfred "Fred" Burwell Davenport, Jr., 94, of Sioux City, died Sunday, Dec. 8, 2013, at Countryside Retirement Center in Sioux City.
Service will be 11 a.m. Monday, Dec. 16, at Morningside Lutheran Church, with the Revs. Darrin Vick and Tom LoVan officiating. Interment will be in Memorial Park Cemetery. Public visitation will be 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday, with the family receiving friends from 4 to 6 p.m., at Morningside Chapel,Christy-Smith Funeral Home, 1801 Morningside Ave., in Sioux City. Online condolences may be made to the family at www.christysmith.com .
Fred was born on Friday, May 30, 1919, in Sioux City, to Alfred "Fred" and Ruby (Sowby) Davenport. He grew up in Morningside, attending Longfellow, East Junior and East High schools. He went on to attend Morningside College and graduated in 1941. He grew up during the Depression and remembered stacking hay at the Sioux City Stockyards and working at a service station on the westside. Hard work was not a deterrent for Fred. His children remember him saying, "If you are satisfied with where you are, you’ll never be what you should be."
Fred had originally wanted to be an attorney, but World War II got in the way and forced him to change his intentions. In October 1941, Fred entered the U.S. Navy and became a naval aviator flying PBY’s and becoming an instructor for submarine search planes.
He married Martha Jeanne Roe on July 18, 1943, in Corpus Christi, Texas, the day after receiving his commission as ensign. After the war, Fred received an honorable discharge and returned to Iowa.
Fred’s career started not in real estate, but rather in Rippey, Iowa, as a teacher and high school girls basketball coach for a salary of $120 a month. In October 1945, Fred and his father-in-law, C.L. Roe, went into business as Conservative Bond and Mortgage Company. About that time, he started building homes in the area with a partner. They had a crew that built more than 120 small, two-bedroom bungalows that Fred referred to as "GI houses." No other builder has come close to that number in a single year. Some of the homes were also built in Le Mars, Iowa, South Sioux City, and Rochester, Minn. In 1960, with his real estate career moving along at a rapid pace, he noticed there were two banks in Morningside and none on the north side of Sioux City. After a two-year struggle, he ended up getting a charter for a bank known as Valley State Bank that opened where Marketplace Shopping Center is currently located. The bank has been sold several times since he founded it and it is currently Northwest Bank on Hamilton and West Seventh.
Fred didn’t stop there. With the bank established on the north side, he made a bold step and decided that Sioux City needed a local life insurance company. With a couple of friends, he founded a local insurance company called Key Life Insurance Company, which is now known as Central United Life Insurance Company and was the only one to have their headquarters in Sioux City. He then founded the Home Trust Savings and Loan in Vermillion, S.D. About that time, he was elected to the city council of Sioux City. He was instrumental in the creation of the first urban renewal area on Sixth Street, the Floyd River diversion project, construction of the first sewage disposal system and dog leash laws.
In 1963, Fred took the job as airport manager, a post he held until 1978. Fred took this job because of a downturn in the local economy. He didn’t let the economy get him down; he just took the bull by the horns and ran the airport like a businessman rather than a bureaucrat. When he took over the airport, the city of Sioux City had to subsidize the operation to the tune of $200,000 a year. Within 18 months, he had the airport supporting itself and it continued to do so the entire time he served as airport manager. During the time he was airport manager, he was also appointed interim city manager in 1967.
In 1978, he restarted his real estate career. This time he became involved with commercial real estate. A few of the projects Fred had been involved in were, the first gaming boat in Sioux City, Eastgate Shopping Center, Spalding Shopping Center, Holiday Inn, Roadway Inn, Indian Hills Care Center, Dialysis Center Northside, Hillcrest Shopping Center, the Wal-Mart stores, Singing Hills Drive from Highway 75 to Lakeport, Clocktower Nursing Home in Sergeant Bluff, multiple other nursing homes throughout the area with the Boyle Companies known as Regal Manors, many of the strip shopping centers including several on Hamilton Boulevard and Gordon Drive, the rehab of both the Commerce and the Davidson buildings and renovation of the Plymouth Block building. Fred always had an upbeat attitude and a positive vision for Siouxland. He truly loved Sioux City and its people, and through his efforts, it is a better place to live. Fred would say, "The only limits are those of vision." And his life was certainly a testament to vision.
Fred was a leader in many civic activities including United Way Regional chairperson, president of Siouxland Economic Development Council, president of Sioux City Chamber of Commerce, and president of Greater Siouxland. He was a member of the following boards, Salvation Army, Morningside College, Gordon Chemical Dependency Clinic, Marian Health Center (currently Mercy Medical Center), Sioux City Real Estate Board, Sioux City Home Builders Association, Sioux City Entertainment League, Sioux City Community Theater, WACO (currently New Perspective Inc.), Western Iowa Technical Community College Foundation, and the Ecumenical Institute. Morningside College awarded him a doctorate in public service on May 7, 1989. He was a member of Morningside Lutheran Church.
Surviving are his children, Karen and her husband, Robert Thomas of Sioux City, Deane and his wife, Kim Davenport of Arvada, Colo., Dave and his wife, Lori Davenport of Sioux City, and Julie Davies-Roost of Sioux City; and his sister, Doris Mitterling of Boulder, Colo. Fred has been blessed with 11 grandchildren, Christian and his wife, Jana Thomas, Dagan and his wife, Sarah Davenport, Steely Davenport, Noelle Davenport, Sara Davenport, Isabelle Davenport, Dr. Michael and his wife, Lindsay Davenport, Ashley Davenport and her husband, Dr. Brent Bates, Marisa and her spouse, Brooke Davies, Meredith and her husband, Ron Vogt, and Dillon Roost; and 15 great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Martha Jeanne; son, Fred Davenport III; son in-law, Ed Davies; sister, Jean Plummer; and an infant sister, Marian.
The family requests memorials be directed to the Fred B. Davenport Jr. endowed fund at Morningside College.