The Shreveport City Council adopted Resolution 88 on July 22 celebrating the life and 100th birthday of Elvira Heller Davis, a long-time resident of the Martin Luther King Jr. area and the oldest living member of the Heller/Davis family, the council heard.

The ceremonial resolution recited biographical milestones including her birth in the Cane River Creole community, her receipt of an honorary high school diploma from the Louisiana Department of Education and a state proclamation marking her centennial. The council moved and seconded the resolution and recorded passage with a 7-0 vote.

Family members and community figures spoke in praise of Davis’s longevity and community role. A family member who identified herself as Miss Lister said Davis “suffered a stroke in February” but emphasized earlier decades of active community life: “She witnessed Southern University being built... and she never thought she would have the opportunity to vote for, quote, a colored president,” the speaker said, recalling Davis’s pride in voting for Barack Obama.

Other speakers noted Davis’s role in encouraging civic participation: the resolution and public remarks noted that she and a spouse raised 14 children and that she insisted that family members register to vote upon turning 18. Sheriff Whitehorn presented Davis with an honorary deputy sheriff recognition at a private celebration the previous day, the council heard.

The council chair and members offered congratulations and additional birthday mentions for other long-lived residents to be recognized at later meetings. The resolution is ceremonial and contains no financial appropriation.