Famous Early Ufologist & Co-founder of Civilian Saucer Intelligence-NYC
Isabel Lenore Davis was famous, early ufologist, case investigator, author and cofounder of the early UFO group, Civilian Saucer Intelligence NYC. She was born in Marquette, Michigan to Harry Clifford Davis , an insurance man from Barry, IL & Helen Digby, a housewife, from St. Louis, MO.
Isabel was the twin sister of Helen May Davis. Little Helen May died in 1904 in Marquette, at age 2, of convulsions, and is buried in Marquette. After her death, Isabel's parents, remained in Marquette until at least the 1910 Census and then, at some time prior to WWI, they returned to St. Louis, Missouri, where they had married in 1899. According to her father's WWI Draft Card, he worked as Assistant Treasurer of Wagner Manufacturing Company in St. Louis, but may have also worked on the side selling insurance as he had in Marquette. His obit says he also became an ordained Baptist Minister while in St. Louis, but never practiced the ministry for a livelihood. The 1920 Census indicates the family was still in living in St. Louis, except for Isabel, who had by then gone off to college.
After Isabel graduated from high school in St. Louis in 1918, she moved to NYC for college, where she lived in student housing and graduated 1922. Eventually, not long after after her mother, Helen Digby Davis, died in St. Louis in 1925, her father moved to NYC, as well, where he was an Insurance Auditor for the New Amsterdam Casualty Co. and remarried to a Susan C. Clark in 1927, in Brooklyn, where he died in 1933, and is buried. According to his obit, Charles was was a longtime insurance auditor for United States Casualty Company, which was later taken over by the New Amsterdam Casualty Company, from which he retired. He had also worked in the insurance industry in Marquette, and altogether his obit states, he had "worked in the insurance business for 22 years".
I could initially find no known photos of Isabel online, or on her Ancestry family tree; and there were no linked High School or College yearbook photos of her on Ancestry. So, for a long time her schooling and her countenance were a mystery. Finally, doing a simple google search using just her full name, I discovered she graduated from Soldan High School in St. Louis, now known as Soldan International Studies High School. She popped up in a free e-book, "The Official Proceedings St. Louis Public Schools, Vol. 25" published July 9, 1918, which showed her in the list of 1918 Soldan High School graduates in St. Louis. But, unfortunately, I went through every page of the 1918 yearbook photos online on e-yearbooks, and could not find a photo of her. I then found her listed in another free e-book, "Columbia University - In the City of NY", for 1922-23, a reference book, which listed names of graduates in schools across NYC. There I found her in a list of "Degrees Conferred During 1921-1922, in the list of Barnard College graduates, being conferred Batchelor of Arts degrees. Armed with this breakthrough, I was finally able to track down her senior photo in the 1922 Barnard yearbook! (I thought I would never find a photo of her!) I also, found her mentioned in a 1984 Barnard Newsletter, in the "In Memoriam" section, as a 1922 alumna. Next to her name it said in italics, "Brooks", which I found was referring to Brooks Hall, the residence hall in which she resided.
Barnard, a women's college, on the west side of Manhattan, was an affiliate college of Columbia. It seems to have been very empowering and formative for Isabel, as it has been for so many generations of women. From the Barnard website:
"In 1889, Barnard became the first college in New York City to offer degrees to women. Since then, generations of bold Barnard women have challenged themselves and one another to redefine — and keep redefining — what it means to be a woman, a scholar, an activist, and a leader.
Two years after she graduated, the 1924, the Barnard yearbook had a page dedicated to their 1922 alumnae, called "Where They Are," in which Isabel is listed as "Teaching in Whitesville, NY" - a tiny hamlet near the eastern town line of another hamlet, Independence, NY, in southwestern NY State. How she ended up there, and exactly for how long she remained, is a mystery, but soon enough she came back to NYC for the wedding of her younger sister Margery Alice Davis in 1928, and then to reside in NYC, from at least the 1930 Census until 1967, when I learned, she moved to Washington, D.C. Once back in New York City, her life interests and careers evolved in fascinating ways. She went from a provincial and boring place to, metaphorically speaking...out of this world!
She is listed on pages 27 & 29 in the Fall 1984 issue of the Alumni Magazine "BARNARD (available on the Internet Archive) in the "In Memoriam" section. Page 29, which lists 1922 alumni deaths, does not provide an obit as for some other deceased alumni, but provides this brief note documenting her passing: "We have been informed of the death of Isabel Lenore Davis on June 19. The class extends sympathy to the family."
1930-1967 - Years of Creativity - 20 Christopher St & 67 Jane St in The Village
In the 1930 Census her occupation is listed as "statistician" in a "department store," and we find her living at 20 Christopher St. - the epicenter of the cool, colorful, and très gay, Greenwich Village Gay enclave. According to Googlemaps, 20 Christopher is just "34 feet" from the historic, Stonewall Inn, at No. 51-53 Christopher, which opened Oct 11, 1934, initially as "Bonnie's Stonewall Inn," named after the proprietor, Vincent "Bonnie" Bonavia. But even pre-Stonewall, the Village was a kind of Ellis Island for LGBT people since before the Jazz Age. History surrounds you here...within feet. Diagonally across the street, at No. 15, the historic Oscar Wild Bookstore was opened in 1967, and was the first Gay bookstore in the country. And just a 2 minute walk north is the historic Julius Bar, where the Gay "Sip-In" took place on April 21, 1966, creating an early legal challenge that advanced Gay rights.
Isabel was likely living at 20 Christopher St., an area that welcomed bohemian creativity, when she wrote her first book. In the last surprising sentence of her father's August 1933 obit, it says his daughter, "Miss Isabelle Davis" (sic) was an author who published under the nom de plume "Peter Davis". Under that name, I found she wrote a fiction book called "King of the Amazon", published by The Macaulay Company, NYC, January 1, 1933. You can find vintage copies for sale on Amazon and other online book sellers, and on WorldCat.
In 1938, she was very briefly married to James Vernon Sampselle, Jr, a Marine Engineer, later Navy man, 13 years her junior, who was born in Washington, D.C., but was then living in NYC. I was unable to find annulment or divorce papers for them on Ancestry, but he later remarried and had a family, while Isabel never did.
At that time, Isabel was living at "67 Jane Street," near the corner of Greenwich St, which is about a 10 minute walk north-west of her old 20 Christopher St. address. It was a cozy, 3 story apartment building, set back off the street, with a verdant, tree-shaded, and tranquil, shared, private garden. Jane Street itself has a quiet, homey feel. It's a narrow, tree-lined street, just a few blocks long, running east-west between Greenwich Ave & the Hudson River. I was surprised to find that "67 Jane" is such a beloved address, that it has its own website and Facebook page, where you can see photos of its cozy entry garden, and learn about its history and residents! Now, I wonder if they know one of its storied residents was Isabel Davis?
By the 1940 Census she is listed as being "single" again, and still at her beloved 67 Jane Street apartment - and I found she continued to reside there until 1967, when she moved to Washington, D.C. (more on that below). The census shows she was working for "private pay" as a "secretary" at a "research organization," and making far more money than any of her neighbors, even those who also had 4 year college degrees. When converted to today's dollars she was making ~$50,000/year. Not bad for a mere "secretary". I would love to know what research organization she was working for.
By the 1950 Census, her sister, Margery, was living with her, and was listed as "separated". As for Isabel, and this is way cool, her occupation was listed as: "Assistant Manager, United Nations" - which is fitting for someone as brilliant as she. (The mother of one of her CSI cofounders, Alexander Mebane, Daphne Margarita Hoffman Mebane, worked as a "translator" in NYC ...I wonder if she worked at the UN as a translator and helped get Isabel the job, or vice versa?)
Early Ufologist & Co-founding of Civilian Saucer Intelligence - NYC (CSI)
In 1954, Isabel along with two other highly regarded, early ufologists, Broadway actor, & early LGBTQ activist, Ted R. Bloecher, (sadly, recently deceased, Jan 22 2024 ), and Harvard educated, pharmaceutical industry, organic research chemist, Alexander "Lex" D. Mebane* (d. 2004) co-founded the earliest evidence based UFO group , Civilian Saucer Intelligence NYC, "CSI-NYC". CSI was an independent, nonprofit, unidentified flying object research group, founded in New York City, but the "New York City" was quickly dropped from their name, as people from all over the country joined.
Unlike some other early "flying saucer groups," CSI actually conducted rigorous investigations of UFO reports. In 1956, she and Mebane published CSI's first quarterly newsletter, which proved to be very popular. UFO researcher Jerome Clark describes it as "the best UFO periodical of its time — well edited, intelligent, thoughtful and critical-minded."
Aug. 10, 1955 - Hynek Establishes Working Relationship With Davis & CSI After Davis Initiated Contact
After the Robertson Panel (1953) diverted most UFO reports away from Project Blue Book, and Project Blue Book's astronomer, investigator, and science consultant J. Allen Hynek , CSI became the main source of UFO reports for Hynek during the mid-1950s, especially cases from outside the U.S. In fact, Isabel and Dr. Hynek corresponded, met in NYC, and formed a working relationship. Hynek's Aug. 10, 1955 letter to Isabel, on Ohio State University stationary, setting up their meeting in NYC is available online (see posted on left). In it he says he would be in NYC on Aug 19th to sail out the next day, and would have some time in the afternoon to meet with her. He also inquired about how far along she was with the UFO "card index of events" she was setting up.
In 1966, Isabel became a member of NICAP, The National Investigations Committee On Aerial Phenomena, and Bloecher followed her to NICAP in 1968. She and Bloecher were active in UFO research until the early '80s, and according to The UFO Encyclopedia, 3rd Ed.:
"Isabel L. Davis was among the most intelligent and critically minded of the first-generation ufologists".
Davis was considered by other ufologists to be "brilliant". According to Jerome Clark:
"[Davis was] one of the most intelligent, hard-headed, first-generation ufologists and a fierce critic of the more outlandish saucer tales."
And similarly, Richard Hall, author of the NICAP book "Challenge of UFOs" (1961), lauded Davis and her Nov 1957 article "Meet the Extraterrestrial," published in science-fiction magazine (see cover, left):
"I wish to point out...that a most illuminating exposure of inconsistencies in the claims of certain well-known figures in this field has been made by a brilliant lady investigator, Miss Isabel L. Davis, Treasurer of the very excellent UFO non-profit research organization, Civilian Saucer Intelligence (CSI) of New York City."
She and Bloecher co-authored a well-known book, "Close Encounter at Kelly and Others of 1955" (1978). And they and several other co-authors, including the esteemed ufologist, Major Donald Kehoe, USMC, wrote "UFOs: A New Look / A Special Report By The National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP)" (1969). Major Kehoe was cofounder and Director of NICAP, as well as a famous Naval aviator, prolific author, and tour organizer for early aviation pioneer, Charles Lindberg. Kehoe became a famous ufologist, publicly arguing early on in the 1950s that UFOS were real, and that the Air Force knew that flying saucers were "extraterrestrial". In fact, an early Pentagon document, the Twining Memo, by Gen. Nathan F. Twining, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff, and key aide to President Eisenhower, literally comes out and says UFOs are "real," "warranted further investigation" and were "extraterrestrial," but a warring Pentagon faction, reversed that, downplayed the reports to avoid public panic, and instituted a 70 year-plus, public disinformation campaign. That campaign has remained in effect until just this week, with Air Force officer and former intelligence official whistleblower, David Grusch's revelations, published by NYTs reporters, Leslie Kean & Ralph Blumenthal, on June 5, 2023, in the "Debrief," online (see: "Intelligence Officials Say U.S. Has Retrieved Craft of Non-Human Origin"), and aired on NewsNation by Chris Cuomo. (Grusch will soon be testifying before House & Senate Congressional Oversight Committees.) Kehoe, like Twining, was adamant that the US Government should stop the cover-up, come clean, and release all the files - something that's taken over 70 years for the process to finally begin.
Not only was Isabel an early ufologist, investigator and author but she was in the rarified stratum of being a pioneering black, female, ufologist. (She must've been very light skinned, because all of her Census records etc...have her listed as "white".)
One of her best friends was Lynn E. Catoe, another pioneering, black, female ufologist, author, and academician, whose memorial I authored. Catoe, was the renowned Library of Congress UFO Bibliographer extraordinaire, who compiled a massive UFO bibliography for the LOC's Science and Technology Division, commissioned by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), Office of Aerospace Research at Wright Patterson AFB, entitled: "UFOs and Related Subjects: An Annotated Bibliography" (1969) - a revised edition of which was put out in 1978.
The two commiserated about the sexism and racism of Kehoe, and in the field of ufology in general, since Davis had overheard Kehoe opposing the group's petitioning people of color to join the NICAP staff.
As I mentioned above, her SSDI does not list a place of death, but instead lists Washington, D.C. as her "last place of residence". I wondered when and why she had moved there, and found she was living there as early as Oct 1967. In the preface to Ted Bloecher's 1967 book, "Report on The UFO Wave of 1947," he thanks a long list of people, and then concludes, "and, particularly, to Miss Isabel L. Davis, of Washington, D.C., for all her helpful suggestions and practical assistance." I then tracked down the Washington D.C. Directories at the L.O.C and found her in the 1968 Directory, living in a really lovely place, The Dupont Apartments, at 1717 20th St. NW in D.C., just down the street from Dupont Circle. It does not list her occupation, but could have well been retired since she was then 65.
One can listen to Isabel Davis discussing UFOs on 2 historic NYC radio recordings on Youtube. Since, unfortunately, outside links are forbidden by FAG now, go to Youtube, and in the search bar, search (without quotation marks) for :
1) Long John Nebel Isabel Davis + Jim Mosely on UFOs Jan. 1959
2) UFO Related Talk, Old Time Radio Show, 581128 CSI NY Isabel Davis on Contactees
**
I've been unable to find an obit for Isabel, or a p.o.d. Her SSDI, unfortunately, does not list a p.o.d., but instead, just her "last known residence, Washington, D.C.". So, I'm going with that as her p.o.d. for now, but am still working to track down, where exactly she died and is interred. If anyone knows this information please edit her memorial, or put in an edit on her on Ancestry records
Rest in Peace...
Researched & Written by Linda (48291572)
Famous Early Ufologist & Co-founder of Civilian Saucer Intelligence-NYC
Isabel Lenore Davis was famous, early ufologist, case investigator, author and cofounder of the early UFO group, Civilian Saucer Intelligence NYC. She was born in Marquette, Michigan to Harry Clifford Davis , an insurance man from Barry, IL & Helen Digby, a housewife, from St. Louis, MO.
Isabel was the twin sister of Helen May Davis. Little Helen May died in 1904 in Marquette, at age 2, of convulsions, and is buried in Marquette. After her death, Isabel's parents, remained in Marquette until at least the 1910 Census and then, at some time prior to WWI, they returned to St. Louis, Missouri, where they had married in 1899. According to her father's WWI Draft Card, he worked as Assistant Treasurer of Wagner Manufacturing Company in St. Louis, but may have also worked on the side selling insurance as he had in Marquette. His obit says he also became an ordained Baptist Minister while in St. Louis, but never practiced the ministry for a livelihood. The 1920 Census indicates the family was still in living in St. Louis, except for Isabel, who had by then gone off to college.
After Isabel graduated from high school in St. Louis in 1918, she moved to NYC for college, where she lived in student housing and graduated 1922. Eventually, not long after after her mother, Helen Digby Davis, died in St. Louis in 1925, her father moved to NYC, as well, where he was an Insurance Auditor for the New Amsterdam Casualty Co. and remarried to a Susan C. Clark in 1927, in Brooklyn, where he died in 1933, and is buried. According to his obit, Charles was was a longtime insurance auditor for United States Casualty Company, which was later taken over by the New Amsterdam Casualty Company, from which he retired. He had also worked in the insurance industry in Marquette, and altogether his obit states, he had "worked in the insurance business for 22 years".
I could initially find no known photos of Isabel online, or on her Ancestry family tree; and there were no linked High School or College yearbook photos of her on Ancestry. So, for a long time her schooling and her countenance were a mystery. Finally, doing a simple google search using just her full name, I discovered she graduated from Soldan High School in St. Louis, now known as Soldan International Studies High School. She popped up in a free e-book, "The Official Proceedings St. Louis Public Schools, Vol. 25" published July 9, 1918, which showed her in the list of 1918 Soldan High School graduates in St. Louis. But, unfortunately, I went through every page of the 1918 yearbook photos online on e-yearbooks, and could not find a photo of her. I then found her listed in another free e-book, "Columbia University - In the City of NY", for 1922-23, a reference book, which listed names of graduates in schools across NYC. There I found her in a list of "Degrees Conferred During 1921-1922, in the list of Barnard College graduates, being conferred Batchelor of Arts degrees. Armed with this breakthrough, I was finally able to track down her senior photo in the 1922 Barnard yearbook! (I thought I would never find a photo of her!) I also, found her mentioned in a 1984 Barnard Newsletter, in the "In Memoriam" section, as a 1922 alumna. Next to her name it said in italics, "Brooks", which I found was referring to Brooks Hall, the residence hall in which she resided.
Barnard, a women's college, on the west side of Manhattan, was an affiliate college of Columbia. It seems to have been very empowering and formative for Isabel, as it has been for so many generations of women. From the Barnard website:
"In 1889, Barnard became the first college in New York City to offer degrees to women. Since then, generations of bold Barnard women have challenged themselves and one another to redefine — and keep redefining — what it means to be a woman, a scholar, an activist, and a leader.
Two years after she graduated, the 1924, the Barnard yearbook had a page dedicated to their 1922 alumnae, called "Where They Are," in which Isabel is listed as "Teaching in Whitesville, NY" - a tiny hamlet near the eastern town line of another hamlet, Independence, NY, in southwestern NY State. How she ended up there, and exactly for how long she remained, is a mystery, but soon enough she came back to NYC for the wedding of her younger sister Margery Alice Davis in 1928, and then to reside in NYC, from at least the 1930 Census until 1967, when I learned, she moved to Washington, D.C. Once back in New York City, her life interests and careers evolved in fascinating ways. She went from a provincial and boring place to, metaphorically speaking...out of this world!
She is listed on pages 27 & 29 in the Fall 1984 issue of the Alumni Magazine "BARNARD (available on the Internet Archive) in the "In Memoriam" section. Page 29, which lists 1922 alumni deaths, does not provide an obit as for some other deceased alumni, but provides this brief note documenting her passing: "We have been informed of the death of Isabel Lenore Davis on June 19. The class extends sympathy to the family."
1930-1967 - Years of Creativity - 20 Christopher St & 67 Jane St in The Village
In the 1930 Census her occupation is listed as "statistician" in a "department store," and we find her living at 20 Christopher St. - the epicenter of the cool, colorful, and très gay, Greenwich Village Gay enclave. According to Googlemaps, 20 Christopher is just "34 feet" from the historic, Stonewall Inn, at No. 51-53 Christopher, which opened Oct 11, 1934, initially as "Bonnie's Stonewall Inn," named after the proprietor, Vincent "Bonnie" Bonavia. But even pre-Stonewall, the Village was a kind of Ellis Island for LGBT people since before the Jazz Age. History surrounds you here...within feet. Diagonally across the street, at No. 15, the historic Oscar Wild Bookstore was opened in 1967, and was the first Gay bookstore in the country. And just a 2 minute walk north is the historic Julius Bar, where the Gay "Sip-In" took place on April 21, 1966, creating an early legal challenge that advanced Gay rights.
Isabel was likely living at 20 Christopher St., an area that welcomed bohemian creativity, when she wrote her first book. In the last surprising sentence of her father's August 1933 obit, it says his daughter, "Miss Isabelle Davis" (sic) was an author who published under the nom de plume "Peter Davis". Under that name, I found she wrote a fiction book called "King of the Amazon", published by The Macaulay Company, NYC, January 1, 1933. You can find vintage copies for sale on Amazon and other online book sellers, and on WorldCat.
In 1938, she was very briefly married to James Vernon Sampselle, Jr, a Marine Engineer, later Navy man, 13 years her junior, who was born in Washington, D.C., but was then living in NYC. I was unable to find annulment or divorce papers for them on Ancestry, but he later remarried and had a family, while Isabel never did.
At that time, Isabel was living at "67 Jane Street," near the corner of Greenwich St, which is about a 10 minute walk north-west of her old 20 Christopher St. address. It was a cozy, 3 story apartment building, set back off the street, with a verdant, tree-shaded, and tranquil, shared, private garden. Jane Street itself has a quiet, homey feel. It's a narrow, tree-lined street, just a few blocks long, running east-west between Greenwich Ave & the Hudson River. I was surprised to find that "67 Jane" is such a beloved address, that it has its own website and Facebook page, where you can see photos of its cozy entry garden, and learn about its history and residents! Now, I wonder if they know one of its storied residents was Isabel Davis?
By the 1940 Census she is listed as being "single" again, and still at her beloved 67 Jane Street apartment - and I found she continued to reside there until 1967, when she moved to Washington, D.C. (more on that below). The census shows she was working for "private pay" as a "secretary" at a "research organization," and making far more money than any of her neighbors, even those who also had 4 year college degrees. When converted to today's dollars she was making ~$50,000/year. Not bad for a mere "secretary". I would love to know what research organization she was working for.
By the 1950 Census, her sister, Margery, was living with her, and was listed as "separated". As for Isabel, and this is way cool, her occupation was listed as: "Assistant Manager, United Nations" - which is fitting for someone as brilliant as she. (The mother of one of her CSI cofounders, Alexander Mebane, Daphne Margarita Hoffman Mebane, worked as a "translator" in NYC ...I wonder if she worked at the UN as a translator and helped get Isabel the job, or vice versa?)
Early Ufologist & Co-founding of Civilian Saucer Intelligence - NYC (CSI)
In 1954, Isabel along with two other highly regarded, early ufologists, Broadway actor, & early LGBTQ activist, Ted R. Bloecher, (sadly, recently deceased, Jan 22 2024 ), and Harvard educated, pharmaceutical industry, organic research chemist, Alexander "Lex" D. Mebane* (d. 2004) co-founded the earliest evidence based UFO group , Civilian Saucer Intelligence NYC, "CSI-NYC". CSI was an independent, nonprofit, unidentified flying object research group, founded in New York City, but the "New York City" was quickly dropped from their name, as people from all over the country joined.
Unlike some other early "flying saucer groups," CSI actually conducted rigorous investigations of UFO reports. In 1956, she and Mebane published CSI's first quarterly newsletter, which proved to be very popular. UFO researcher Jerome Clark describes it as "the best UFO periodical of its time — well edited, intelligent, thoughtful and critical-minded."
Aug. 10, 1955 - Hynek Establishes Working Relationship With Davis & CSI After Davis Initiated Contact
After the Robertson Panel (1953) diverted most UFO reports away from Project Blue Book, and Project Blue Book's astronomer, investigator, and science consultant J. Allen Hynek , CSI became the main source of UFO reports for Hynek during the mid-1950s, especially cases from outside the U.S. In fact, Isabel and Dr. Hynek corresponded, met in NYC, and formed a working relationship. Hynek's Aug. 10, 1955 letter to Isabel, on Ohio State University stationary, setting up their meeting in NYC is available online (see posted on left). In it he says he would be in NYC on Aug 19th to sail out the next day, and would have some time in the afternoon to meet with her. He also inquired about how far along she was with the UFO "card index of events" she was setting up.
In 1966, Isabel became a member of NICAP, The National Investigations Committee On Aerial Phenomena, and Bloecher followed her to NICAP in 1968. She and Bloecher were active in UFO research until the early '80s, and according to The UFO Encyclopedia, 3rd Ed.:
"Isabel L. Davis was among the most intelligent and critically minded of the first-generation ufologists".
Davis was considered by other ufologists to be "brilliant". According to Jerome Clark:
"[Davis was] one of the most intelligent, hard-headed, first-generation ufologists and a fierce critic of the more outlandish saucer tales."
And similarly, Richard Hall, author of the NICAP book "Challenge of UFOs" (1961), lauded Davis and her Nov 1957 article "Meet the Extraterrestrial," published in science-fiction magazine (see cover, left):
"I wish to point out...that a most illuminating exposure of inconsistencies in the claims of certain well-known figures in this field has been made by a brilliant lady investigator, Miss Isabel L. Davis, Treasurer of the very excellent UFO non-profit research organization, Civilian Saucer Intelligence (CSI) of New York City."
She and Bloecher co-authored a well-known book, "Close Encounter at Kelly and Others of 1955" (1978). And they and several other co-authors, including the esteemed ufologist, Major Donald Kehoe, USMC, wrote "UFOs: A New Look / A Special Report By The National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP)" (1969). Major Kehoe was cofounder and Director of NICAP, as well as a famous Naval aviator, prolific author, and tour organizer for early aviation pioneer, Charles Lindberg. Kehoe became a famous ufologist, publicly arguing early on in the 1950s that UFOS were real, and that the Air Force knew that flying saucers were "extraterrestrial". In fact, an early Pentagon document, the Twining Memo, by Gen. Nathan F. Twining, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff, and key aide to President Eisenhower, literally comes out and says UFOs are "real," "warranted further investigation" and were "extraterrestrial," but a warring Pentagon faction, reversed that, downplayed the reports to avoid public panic, and instituted a 70 year-plus, public disinformation campaign. That campaign has remained in effect until just this week, with Air Force officer and former intelligence official whistleblower, David Grusch's revelations, published by NYTs reporters, Leslie Kean & Ralph Blumenthal, on June 5, 2023, in the "Debrief," online (see: "Intelligence Officials Say U.S. Has Retrieved Craft of Non-Human Origin"), and aired on NewsNation by Chris Cuomo. (Grusch will soon be testifying before House & Senate Congressional Oversight Committees.) Kehoe, like Twining, was adamant that the US Government should stop the cover-up, come clean, and release all the files - something that's taken over 70 years for the process to finally begin.
Not only was Isabel an early ufologist, investigator and author but she was in the rarified stratum of being a pioneering black, female, ufologist. (She must've been very light skinned, because all of her Census records etc...have her listed as "white".)
One of her best friends was Lynn E. Catoe, another pioneering, black, female ufologist, author, and academician, whose memorial I authored. Catoe, was the renowned Library of Congress UFO Bibliographer extraordinaire, who compiled a massive UFO bibliography for the LOC's Science and Technology Division, commissioned by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), Office of Aerospace Research at Wright Patterson AFB, entitled: "UFOs and Related Subjects: An Annotated Bibliography" (1969) - a revised edition of which was put out in 1978.
The two commiserated about the sexism and racism of Kehoe, and in the field of ufology in general, since Davis had overheard Kehoe opposing the group's petitioning people of color to join the NICAP staff.
As I mentioned above, her SSDI does not list a place of death, but instead lists Washington, D.C. as her "last place of residence". I wondered when and why she had moved there, and found she was living there as early as Oct 1967. In the preface to Ted Bloecher's 1967 book, "Report on The UFO Wave of 1947," he thanks a long list of people, and then concludes, "and, particularly, to Miss Isabel L. Davis, of Washington, D.C., for all her helpful suggestions and practical assistance." I then tracked down the Washington D.C. Directories at the L.O.C and found her in the 1968 Directory, living in a really lovely place, The Dupont Apartments, at 1717 20th St. NW in D.C., just down the street from Dupont Circle. It does not list her occupation, but could have well been retired since she was then 65.
One can listen to Isabel Davis discussing UFOs on 2 historic NYC radio recordings on Youtube. Since, unfortunately, outside links are forbidden by FAG now, go to Youtube, and in the search bar, search (without quotation marks) for :
1) Long John Nebel Isabel Davis + Jim Mosely on UFOs Jan. 1959
2) UFO Related Talk, Old Time Radio Show, 581128 CSI NY Isabel Davis on Contactees
**
I've been unable to find an obit for Isabel, or a p.o.d. Her SSDI, unfortunately, does not list a p.o.d., but instead, just her "last known residence, Washington, D.C.". So, I'm going with that as her p.o.d. for now, but am still working to track down, where exactly she died and is interred. If anyone knows this information please edit her memorial, or put in an edit on her on Ancestry records
Rest in Peace...
Researched & Written by Linda (48291572)
