SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – Former South Lake Tahoe Mayor and Councilmember Tom Davis was honored on Tuesday evening with a proclamation honoring his contributions to the South Lake Tahoe community and decades of service and leadership.
California State Senator Marie Alvarado-Gil sent the proclamation to South Lake Tahoe, and it was presented to Tom by Doug Williams.
Surrounded by approx 30 family and friends, Dreu Murin acted as MC for the event and was accompanied by several speakers including Williams, Councilman David Jenkins, Mayor Pro-Tem Keith Roberts, Kenny “Ski Bum” Curtzwiler and his son, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office Detective JT Davis.
The younger Davis was mentioned by Murin as being the future of South Lake Tahoe and a future councilman and mayor.
Tom Davis’s wife Mary Davis and his daughter Krystal Davis accepted the framed resolution on behalf of Tom who was in the audience.
Tahoe legend and local musician Ted Kennedy entertained the crowd with a song he wrote just for Tom, called “Have a Tahoe Day,” a phrase Tom has used for decades when telling others to have a wonderful and fulfilling day.
Earlier this year Tom was presented with a Key to the City.
Davis, now 80, served on the city council for 20 years from 1992 to 2004 and 2010 to 2018, but his dedication to the community has lasted decades.
During Davis’s time on the city council, he was mayor four times, mayor pro tem five times, served on the Cal Tahoe JPA, was a former board member of the California Tahoe Conservancy, served four times as the chair of the South Lake Tahoe Redevelopment Agency, and was also the past chairman and member of the Airport Commission.
Besides his government roles, Davis is a former board member of the Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care, has been president and board member of Christmas Cheer, former president of the Lake Tahoe Kwanis Club, is a former member and past president of the South Lake Tahoe Lions Club, and former chair and member of the Lake Tahoe visitors authority. Davis also served on the El Dorado County Fair board for 25 years and has served as the board president. He served two terms as the president of the Chamber of Commerce and was a member of the South Lake Tahoe Lodging Association.
In the late 1970s and 1980s, it was Davis who greeted the high rollers and other guests of the Sahara Tahoe and Horizon as their host.
Those who have come to know Tom Davis know that he has always had the community at heart, and for years had a table at Carina’s Cafe (and later at its replacement, Nikki’s Chaat Cafe). Davis invited everyone to join him there for a conversation or just a cup of friendship. His close friend, the late John Cristando, was often sitting next to him at that table, or later at their corner of John’s Tahoe Cleaners, before the 98-year-old WWII veteran passed away in 2024.