William Stinson “Bill” Davis

JEFFERSON, Texas – With great sorrow I inform you, my twin brother, Bill Davis, passed away on June 10, 2026 while living in Jefferson, Texas.

Born in Portsmouth, N.H., Bill grew up in Yarmouth, Maine living the classic 1950s childhood. He attended Yarmouth schools, Fryeburg Academy and the University of Southern Maine. As a boy, he was deeply interested in books about ships, sailing and seamanship, he studied the details and technical aspects of all three.

Our parents strongly encouraged hard work and entrepreneurship, hence he delivered papers, mowed lawns, shoveled snow, sold vegetables and berries from the family garden, and Christmas wreaths door to door. At about the age of 10, our dad, an avid Maine outdoor sportsman, taught us how to fly fish, which became a lifelong passion for both of us. We fished together for trout and salmon all over the Maine Allagash, Canada, the western states, and the Great Lakes. In later years, he expanded his fishing to the Gulf of America.

In 1959, our parents purchased a salt water farm in Five Islands, which needed extensive repairs and he was fully involved working beside our parents. With our own cove, we had direct access to Harmon’s Harbor, and our dad thought Billy and I should begin lobstering at the age of 13. We fished 50 traps by hand using the family skiff and did very well. This allowed Bill to buy his first sail boat and he mastered sailing very quickly.

During high school, Bill worked at our family’s Esso (Exxon) stations in Yarmouth, Freeport and Falmouth. After high school, Bill joined the Navy where he met the love of his life, his wife Sharon. After the Navy, Bill joined Soule Glass in Portland. He quickly learned the glass trade as a glazier and convinced the best glazier at Soule, Galen Bonneville, to be his partner in a new glass shop, Northeast Glass in Westbrook, in 1973. The shop did very well, but during that time, Bill, always full of energy, went into a side business called Apple Tree Cove Auto Restoration, along with his friend Ed Sapiro. Together, they turned out a number of beautifully restored Model A Fords.

His lifelong dream was to have a Friendship Sloop, so in 1976 he purchased a new 32-foot “Dictator” hull, deck and dog house. Making or purchasing all the needed parts, he and Ed completed the “Christania” in just a year in Bill’s front yard. Bill, Ed and I raced the Christania in Friendship Sloop Regattas in Maine and Massachusetts.

After Galen passed away and Bill’s eyesight deteriorated due to macular degeneration, he moved to Five Islands in 1984 and purchased a home next door to our parents. He purchased a Duffy lobster boat and began lobstering. Bill quickly figured out the big money was in dragger fishing for groundfish, Maine shrimp and the big moneymaker, bluefin tuna. Bill had a “state of the art” 53-foot dragger, the “Rebecca Ann” built in Canada. He then convinced a local fisherman, Arthur Cochran, to join him and they were very successful. Bill’s fishing career was extremely lucrative due to catching many bluefin tuna when the Japanese were paying outrageous prices for them, especially if it had been well treated during the catch and transport to land. Bill took great care with this process bringing top dollar for his catch.

After our parents died, Bill and Sharon moved to Texas in 2001 to be near Sharon’s family and warm weather. His daughters later joined them. While planning to retire, he saw a huge opportunity in Coleman County where deer hunting is big business. He purchased a square mile of deer range, encircled it with a 9 foot high game fence. He then added elk, buffalo, antelope, dove and quail. He opened the Long View Hunting Ranch and it became more successful than he ever expected.

Finally deciding to retire, he sold the ranch and moved to East Texas and built a large antebellum style home in Jefferson, Texas. While clearing his homesite along the Big Cypress Bayou, Tom Moss stopped and asked if he could metal detect on the property, since the property had once been a steam boat docking area and a Civil War prison camp. Bill said “Sure”, and that whatever found was his and wished him luck. Luck he certainly had finding many Civil War artifacts. Tom and Bill shared many of the same interests. Tom joined Bill on many of his fishing trips and trading and selling guns at local gun shows. Tom owned a private military museum in downtown Jefferson where Bill spent many hours hanging out between fishing trips.

Bill was predeceased by his parents, Ed and Marie Davis; and his older brother, Earl “Bob” Wells.

He is survived by Sharon Davis, his wife of 58 years; his daughter, Chrissy (Todd) Camplin and grandchildren, Ben and Sarah; and his daughter, Becky (Dan) Murray and grandson William; as well as his twin brother, Larry (Donna) Davis; and many nephews and nieces.

A Celebration of Life will be held at Bill’s home in Jefferson, Texas, date to be announced.