Board Member Spotlight - Chance Davis
By: Larry Miller
Long-time area rancher Chance Davis is the newest member of the High Plains Western Heritage Center Board of Directors.
Davis replaces Jim Clarkson, whose term on the board has ended. Davis comes from a long-time ranching family. “My great granddad Sellers and his family arrived in western South Dakota from Pennsylvania back in the 1880’s, and he started one of the first schools in Butte County.
“My Davis grandparents came up from Texas in about 1900. My great grandfather was the first sheriff in Wichita Falls, Texas. My granddad and his brother homesteaded on Indian Creek north of Belle Fourche in about 1901. Basically, our family has been there ever since.”
Davis’ parents were Robert Davis and Peggy Pannell; the Pannells came from the Bear Lodge region of Wyoming, north of Hulett and Alva.
“Both my granddad and my dad ran sheep. My father was killed in a small plane accident when I was just four years old.” Davis went to country school through the fifth grade, then into Belle Fourche for sixth grade and continued through high school, graduating in 1974. “I have an older sister who lives in Fort Morgan, Colorado, and an older brother who managed a power plant in Sioux City, Iowa.”
Davis and his wife Cindy are celebrating their 50th anniversary this year, and have three children: daughter Chandy is a veterinarian and runs CATL Resources, located between Belle Fourche and St. Onge. They also sell livestock equipment and offer reproductive resources. Older son Coby works with UPS in Casper; younger son Chad is a Physical Therapist with the U.S. Army and lives in Tacoma, Washington.
The Davis ranch is on Owl Creek - four miles south of where his grandad settled on Indian Creek. Davis’ father bought neighboring land, considerably expanding the size of the ranch, located about 15 miles north off the Camp Crook Road.
Davis has an extensive record of leadership in agricultural and rural community service.
He serves as a member of the South Dakota Farm Service Agency (FSA) State Committee. In April of this year, Davis was appointed by USDA Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins to oversee farm programs and county operations in support of the administration’s Farmers First commitment.
Among his other many community service activities, Davis has served on the Belle Fourche School Board, the Butte County Fair Board, the Black Hills National Forest Regional Multiple Use Coalition, and the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association.
We are delighted that Chance Davis now shares his talent and experience in public service with the High Plains Western Heritage Center!