The tight-knit community of Samish Island is mourning the loss of one of its leaders.
Seventy-three-year-old Chuck Davis was murdered in a domestic dispute with one of his sons last weekend. Neighbors on the island rushed to the home and helped detain Davis' son until police arrived.
Now his friends and family are sharing the impact Davis had on the island.
Davis was a well-known maritime attorney in Seattle for almost three decades before he moved to the island permanently 20 years ago.
On any day you could see Davis on one of his long walks across Samish Island, stopping to say hello to his neighbors. The same neighbors who now stop to share their condolences.
"He had a heart that was so huge, and so often I was in doing things that no one knew about," said his sister, Marlene Davis Schuck.
Davis's youngest sister lives down the road on the island. She says he took over as the patriarch of the five siblings in their family after their father died when Marlene was a teenager.
"He taught me how to drive, vetted my boyfriends, took me skiing, all of those things as a big brother, in addition to all the the things he did for mom," she said.
All the things he did for everyone, like when his neighbor, Doug Lundgren, had bypass surgery during the holidays.
"Chuck called [my wife] Lori, and said 'Lori, do you know where your Christmas lights are, your outside lights?' She said, 'Yeah.' He said, 'Get them out. I'm coming down to put them up for you.' That's the way he was," said Lundgren.
He shared his love for the water with many, taking them crabbing or out for a ride in his sailboat. He was a steward for the island and an advocate for its residents. His friends say he caught enough fish to share with a hundred people at the annual fall barbecue. Davis served on the governing board for the Samish Island Community Club and always marched in the annual parade.
Davis and his wife Catherine had three children, Allison, Peter and Lane, and three grandchildren. Their granddaughter, Charlotte Davis, was born on July 21, 2017.
Now suddenly the man known as Mr. Samish Island is gone.
People say the silence on the island since his murder is almost palpable. Davis died allegedly at the hands of his troubled son after an argument. Lane Davis, 33, is now under arrest awaiting charges.
Davis' sister feels indebted to the neighbors who rushed to the home to help.
"People who laid their lives on the line, by their response and their reaction," she said.
Now his friends and family want the world outside the island to know the leader they lost.
"A kinder man I've not known," said Lundgren.
Family members say Davis' two other children, Allison and Peter, were supporting their grieving mother. The outpouring of support by the community "are truly appreciated," say family.
