Robert "Bob" Davis

Robert “Bob” Davis, a well-known Austin millworks and lumber dealer whose heritage wood products were used in hundreds of Texas preservation and construction projects and in the showcase 1990s restoration of the Texas Capitol, passed away peacefully on Thursday, June 17, after a brief illness. He was 72.

During his more than 35 years in Austin, Davis had been a jeweler, a restaurateur and a homebuilder before he focused on the lumber business starting just over 20 years ago.

Born in Basile, Louisiana, on January 30, 1938, Davis was the son of CE Davis, a homebuilder and lumber dealer, and Mabel LeFleur Davis, a nurse. Bob grew up in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and graduated from LaGrange High School in 1956.

After working for several years in Sales in Lake Charles, Davis came to Austin in the 1970s and founded Lodestone, a business that started out selling jewelry on the Drag by the University of Texas and later moved into a shop.

During the 1980s, he operated a popular jewelry shop in the Trask House in Austin’s Warehouse District, built homes for a time in San Marcos and was part-owner of the Avenue Restaurant, a gathering spot in the 900 block of Congress Avenue.

In 1985, he founded Delta Lumber and Millworks, a firm that specialized in recycling antique wood recycled from aged buildings that were disassembled. At his mill in East Austin, Davis turned the lumber into gorgeous flooring, trim wood, custom doors and windows. Lumber that Davis recycled from 1800s cotton warehouses in Houston and Gainesville was used in the restoration of the Texas Capitol, to match the grain and appearance of the existing old wood there.

For much of his time in Austin, he lived in an historic home in the Judges’ Hill neighborhood in downtown Austin.

Bob had worked at Delta until just a few weeks before his passing.
Preceded in death by his parents, Bob is survived by two sisters, Jackie Goodfellow of Austin and Jo Clifton of Lake Charles; a brother, James, of Houston, a daughter, Rachel Davis, of Austin, a son, Robert “Robbie” Davis of Austin and a step-daughter Stephanie Larson, of Austin.

Beneath his sometimes gruff, no-nonsense demeanor, Bob was a generous, jolly and lovable father and friend who loved to talk about his family, Texas history, politics and trains.

He will be missed by his family and by all his many friends. He will also be missed by his much-loved “bully” Kozmeaux.

No services are scheduled. A celebration of Bob’s life is planned at a later date.