2026 SPECIAL SESSION I

ENROLLED

HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 2199

Celebrating the life of Sandra Jean Caldwell Davis.

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, June 29, 2026

WHEREAS, Sandra Jean Caldwell Davis, a passionate advocate for public higher education and an entrepreneur, business leader, and humanitarian who touched countless lives across Southwest Virginia, died on March 17, 2026; and

WHEREAS, Sandra “Sandy”Jean Caldwell Davis was born in Radford and grew up in Floyd County, where she graduated from Floyd High School in 1964; she began working for the Virginia Department of Health at the age of 17 and rose through the ranks over the next several decades to become a supervisor and health director serving Radford and Giles County; and

WHEREAS, Sandy Davis also worked at the Bank of Christiansburg for 14 years, ultimately becoming the first woman in Southwest Virginia to achieve the position of senior vice president of a bank; and

WHEREAS, having been unable to afford college when she graduated from high school, Sandy Davis was devoted to making higher education more affordable, and she and her late husband, Patrick Cupp, supported various scholarship funds at Radford University and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech); and

WHEREAS, Sandy Davis and Patrick Cupp also established BCR Real Estate and Property Management, which maintained rental properties for college students; under their leadership, the business grew to include a portfolio of more than six hundred houses and apartments; and

WHEREAS, a recognized leader in the business community, Sandy Davis provided her wise insights to the boards of Go Virginia Region 2 and the Business Council of Roanoke; she also chaired the boards of the Blacksburg Partnership and the Carilion New River Valley Medical Center and co-chaired a commission to study passenger rail development in the New River Valley; and

WHEREAS, in addition, Sandy Davis offered her leadership to New River Community College and received gubernatorial appointments to the Radford University Board of Visitors and the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors; she further supported Virginia Tech as chair of the Virginia Tech Foundation Board of Directors and the Virginia Tech Athletic Fund Board of Directors and as a member of the steering committee for Virginia Tech's first $1 billion capital campaign; and

WHEREAS, Sandy Davis and her second husband, Jack Davis, enhanced cultural life in the region as champions of the arts who co-endowed the Street and Davis Performance Hall at Virginia Tech's Center for the Arts as well as the Davis Performance Hall and Davis College of Business and Economics at Radford University; and

WHEREAS, among many awards and accolades for her personal and professional achievements, Sandy Davis received Citizen of the Year awards from both the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club of Blacksburg and was inducted into the Southwest Virginia Business Hall of Fame; and

WHEREAS, Sandy Davis was also one of only a few individuals to be selected as an honorary life member of the Virginia Tech Alumni Association, and she received the institution's highest honor, the William H. Ruffner Award, now known as the Ut Prosim Medal; and

WHEREAS, predeceased by her first husband, Patrick, Sandy Davis will be fondly remembered and greatly missed by her husband of 23 years, Jack; two stepchildren; her sister, Mildred; more than a dozen nieces and nephews; and numerous other family members and friends; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the House of Delegates hereby note with great sadness the loss of Sandra Jean Caldwell Davis, a pillar of her community in Southwest Virginia; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the family of Sandra Jean Caldwell Davis as an expression of the House of Delegates' respect for her memory.