Davies is a different kind of pioneer

The co-chair of this year’s Bountiful Handcart Days celebration arrived here a different way than many so deeply involved in the annual celebration.

Source: Davis County Clipper

by Tom Busselberg
Jun 10, 2010

BOUNTIFUL—Rather than tracing his ancestry back five or six generations to Mormon Handcart pioneers arriving in Utah and Davis County, Richard Davies likes to joke that he arrived by a Boeing 747 trans-Atlantic flight to this country, London to Los Angeles, in 1970.

He grew up in what was then the grimy industrial city of Birmingham, England, known years ago as “the city of 1,000 trades.”

Although not even 4 when World War II ended, Davies has several memories of the conflict as seen from the environs of his family’s block of flats, or apartments.

“I remember tanks driving in front of the apartment, cracking up the street,” which wasn’t built for that kind of weight, he said. “It was thought to be part of the buildup to D-Day.”

Another memory is of playing on the patio and seeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers flying overhead. They were developed specifically for U.S. forces to fight in World War II.

Also as a small boy, he remembers being hoisted high in the air to see the arrival of a man who brought cheers to a huge crowd. Davies believes that must have been British World War II Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

Although then a child, Davies can relate in his own way to the trials the Handcart Pioneers had to endure.

“I remember the rationing, and how my mother went to buy eggs once a week,” he said. The eggs were kept simply in paper bags. On one occasion, as she was walking along, a child hit her on a bicycle, knocking the eggs to the ground, the neighbor women “lamenting that must’ve been your week’s ration.”

That 747 flight to California was originally for a visit to see family, but ended up with the trained professional hotelier being offered a job at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles.

It followed a career that has included working at the Hotel Metropole in Brussels, which he called an “amazing experience,” where he perfected his French, starting there as a server. That was followed by a stint at the Grand Metropolitan Hotel near the houses of Parliament in London, where he worked in management.

In Los Angeles, following his job at the Century Plaza, Davies was hired by the Los Angeles (now Millennium) Biltmore Hotel, and oversaw its complete gutting and renovation as hotel CFO.

The Utah resident since 1978 is married to the former Linda Moyes, who grew up in Fruit Heights. They have three children and five grandchildren.

Speaking to the Handcart Days theme of Traditions: Then & Now,” he said, “It celebrates the courage of the Pioneers who sought out a new life where they could practice their religion in freedom.”

Events will take place Friday, July 23-Sunday, July 25, thanks to a massive cadre of nearly 1,300 volunteers. The Woods Cross Stake, alone, is providing a force of 250 volunteers to coordinate and stage the parade, alone, Davies said.

A parade grand marshal will be announced soon.

There are 90 “permanent” volunteers who oversee the 11 major committees and have been working virtually non-stop since the 2009 celebration.