Public Tribute Planned for Former KEYT Anchor Debby Davison
UPDATE: A public tribute will be held Saturday, July 18th for Debby Davison. The family is inviting everyone to celebrate Debby at the Relay for Life event at Aliso School in Carpinteria. The Relay for Life starts at 10 a.m. and benefits the American Cancer Society.
Santa Barbara County District Attorney Joyce Dudley will help lead this year’s event with a special tribute to Debby Davison who recently lost her courageous battle with cancer.
Davison’s son, Eric, says the family was planning just a small private service before they were “absolutely blown away by the community’s reaction to her death.”
The family will have a special tribute book for the public to sign.
Original story from Tuesday, July 7th:
Debby Davison, the longtime face of KEYT from 1990 until 2006, has died after a courageous, years-long battle with breast cancer.
She died at 6:04 p.m. Tuesday night at Serenity House, a hospice facility in Santa Barbara.
Davison, a native of Boston, launched her career in Florida and retired after anchoring the 5, 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts at KEYT in Santa Barbara. She was also a well known and well respected anchor at Channel 5, KTLA in Los Angeles during the mid 80s. Davison also worked for a time in Tucson before moving to Santa Barbara.
Within her first two weeks at KEYT, the Painted Cave fire broke out, instantly cementing Davison’s on-air professionalism and making her a recognizable force within Santa Barbara’s media outlets.
She quickly became well known throughout the community as she emceed countless events over the years and devoted the majority of her free time to various non-profits including CALM (Child Abuse Listening and Mediation) where she interviewed guest authors during the non-profit’s annual Authors’ Luncheon. Her volunteer work with CADA took her to life-changing heights during her international trips in support of the Summit for Danny. Davison was also involved with the Dream Foundation’s annual fundraiser and the Unity Shoppe’s annual telethon.
Davison is survived by her husband Dennis Phelps and her two sons, Eric and his wife Stacy, and Scott.
Plans for a private service are pending.
NewChannel 3 will have a tribute video to Davison Wednesday at 6 and 11.
