45-year CL resident Dee Dee Davis celebrates 95th birthday

Canyon Lake Pioneer Dee Dee Davis celebrated her 95th birthday doing one of the things she loves most – dining out at the beach. After her family drove her to Dana Point, she spent the day fine dining, watching the boats and seals, and smelling the ocean breeze.

“It was a memory I’ll always cherish,” Dee Dee, the long-time Canyon Lake resident, said.

Dee Dee first started coming to Canyon Lake in 1970 when only a handful of homes had been built. She said she loved staying in the campground on the water and later built her home in 1976 just three houses away from Happy Camp.

Dee Dee Davis dons a party hat and celebrates her 95th birthday with family at Dana Point. Dee Dee has lived in Canyon Lake for 45 years, permanently moving to the new community in 1976. Prior to moving to Canyon Lake, she’d visit and stay at Happy Camp as early as 1970.Photo by Steve Libring.

On Friday nights, she would go to the Old Lodge and dance the night away, her son-in-law Steve Libring said. Over the years, Dee Dee has been involved in many clubs and functions including The Canyon Lake Travel Club, teaching Cotillion Dance for the kids, The Twirlers Square Dancing and many more.

Dee Dee is a long-time member of the Lake Elsinore Elks Lodge and loves dancing there, Steve said. She enjoys going on cruises and has been on 58 cruises around the world during the last 60 years. Her favorite cruise, she said, was to Rio to see her homeland again, which included a trip down the Amazon River. Her second favorite cruise destination, she said, is any cruise that goes through the Panama Canal.

“That is an engineering marvel,” she said. “It’s incredible how they get those big boats over a mountain. Everyone should do that at least once in their lifetime.”

Dee Dee was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1926 and came to America in 1944 to seek the American Dream. Growing up in Rio, she brought its traditions to the states. Her favorite song is “The Girl from Ipanema” and her favorite season is Carnival in Rio with all the colorful outfits and anything shiny, her daughter Diane Libring said.

Dee Dee was a reporter for the early version of The Friday Flyer and is credited with coining the phrase, “A Little Bit of Paradise,” Steve said. In the early 1980s, she organized a crew of volunteers to clean off weeds and make Skipper’s Island a usable day beach.

Interestingly, it was at this cleanup activity where her future son-in-law, Steve, first met Dee Dee. He said he met Dee Dee even before he met her daughter, Diane, who he would eventually marry.

“We were later matched up by the two moms (who were friends) on a blind date,” Steve said. “That’s what mothers do.”

Dee Dee has 50 years of Canyon Lake memories and experiences. She was voted Miss Chili Pepper at the Chili Cookoff in the early 1980s. She won several Elizabeth Taylor look alike contests during that time. Before Canyon Lake started building homes, Dee Dee hand watered many of the trees on the vacant lots.

When asked what’s in store for her 100th birthday celebration, she responded, “I’d like to have some tacos at the beach and take a nap in the shade by the ocean.”