Liz Davis named Smyrna Citizen of the Year

A lifelong volunteer has received Smyrna’s top honor for her efforts. Liz Davis, a Williams Park Neighbors founder and a Keep Smyrna Beautiful board member, received Smyrna’s Citizen of the Year Award from the Smyrna Area Council of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce and the Smyrna Business Association Thursday, Nov. 10.

A humble Davis was surprised to be honored calling it “quite a shock” and saying that it made her cry.

Davis, a native of Smyrna who attended Smyrna Elementary School and Campbell High School began volunteering when she was 12 years old.

“It's all I know how to do,” she said. “It makes you feel good to make a difference.”

Davis grew up in Smyrna’s Williams Park neighborhood. After moving away from Smyrna for some time she returned to find that Williams Park was no longer the charming neighborhood she remembered from childhood as it was full of commerical buildings and rundown homes. In 2005 she and five other Williams Park residents founded the Williams Park Neighbors, a neighborhood association aimed at revitalizing the area. 

Six years later the group has 220 dues-paying families on its roster. Davis has been known to host cookouts and Easter egg hunts for her neighbors and has helped many a lost pet find its way home.

Davis is an active volunteer outside her neighborhood as well. She serves as a Keep Smyrna Beautiful board member where she chaired the membership, work glove luncheon and garden tour committees.

“She has also given significant amounts of her time to Keep Smyrna Beautiful and the Parks Commission resulting in the successful starting of the Keep Smyrna Beautiful Garden Tours and raising thousands of dollars for the Community Garden and for other improvement projects at schools and in our parks,” said Ann Kirk, Keep Smyrna Beautiful’s executive director. “Smyrna is a much better place because of Liz Davis.”