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He was a voracious reader and kept up with the news. His used his weekly newspaper column and television show on Channel 57 to keep people informed about conservation. Roscoe's Roundup, that appeared in the Hazard Herald for decades, was cleverly written to include amusing anecdotes about local people and they always kept reading for more. It was filled with news, gags, Hazard history and philosophy in what he called tongue-in-cheek, "the good old Angelo-Saxon" which did intentional and sometimes hilarious violence to the language. The paper was careful to run it just as he submitted it, having made the mistake many years ago of trying to clean up the spelling & grammar. Readers were not pleased. "Leck Begley has crossed over the Mountain of no return, he was the father-in-law of Mark & Luke Walters… I hope he will find a good fishing hole up there," Davis may write. "Mayor Bill Morton fetched me in two nice Blue fish from the Ocean, you see Bill has been to see the big waters along with Betty and guess the rest of his clan. I would say these fish or the Mackrel family, regardless of what family they belong to, they will soon belong in this peckerwood's belly, that's as close to the blue bloods as you can get. "I read with interest about the park service going to install a solar system in their houses, what ever that is. …I never need any heat or light to find a two holer when needed. I guess times sure is changing. Use to be all I needed was a good smeller and I wasn't worried about anything but if the catalogue hadn't got down to the slick pages yet. Bless my honorary hide what next?" Oscar Combs, former editor of Cats Pause, worked with Davis in Hazard for years. "It's sad. Nobody replaced the correspondent like Roscoe. Now with educated and trained journalists and educated readership, to some extent, people are more demanding of a better brand of journalism. But what tends to be missing, increasingly, is the warmth and humor and sometimes sadness of columns like Roscoe's," Combs said. Davis was a long way from being the rube he came off as in his column. When you cornered him, he could be downright serious, not to say eloquent, about his craft: Today - many of his columns, especially those covering Hazard & Perry County's early days, are being read by a new generation, 30 years after his death, on the Hazard Blog that appears on WSGS.com and HazardKentucky.com.
Besides his business and conservation interests, Roscoe was a Mason, Shriner, and past president of the Hazard Shrine Club. He was director of the Hazard-Perry County Civil Defense, a member of the Board of Governors for the Hazard Appalachian Regional Hospital. Even as a hospital patient, he usually came downstairs for the board's monthly meetings at ARH. He never lost his zeal for what he thought was right for the hospital that served his home town. Davis was loved by young and old and for many years supplied school children with materials for their conservation essays used in local and state competition for contests sponsored annually by the Courier Journal. As a service to sportsmen, Roscoe Davis inaugurated the sale of hunting and fishing licenses at stores throughout Perry County. Before, they were only sold at the courthouse. Davis Brothers of course was always happy to carry these licenses. One of his last honors was a Conservation Service Citation for "outstanding distinguished service in the field of Natural Resource Management" presented to him by the National Wildlife Federation at Cave City, KY. in June 1978. The low water dam on the North Fork of the Kentucky River at Hazard bears his name. Roscoe Davis Dam keeps the river at permanent pool level so that the North Fork never runs dry in Hazard. It was a fitting memorial. Even as a young man, Roscoe had a great respect for older citizens and the way things use to be. He never stopped working for what was right.
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Last
month marked the 30th anniversary of the passing of Roscoe Davis,
one of Hazard's best loved people. He was 71 when he died on
August 21, 1980. He was the husband of Greeba Van Cooke Davis, longtime city
treasurer for Hazard. Roscoe was a lifetime
resident of Hazard, attending the local schools and was a star
basketball player for Hazard High School in the late twenties. A
trophy he won in his high school days is now displayed in the Hazard
High School trophy case. He was a familiar figure on Main Street
where he and his brother, Bill, operated Davis Brothers Kenyon Auto
Store, until a fire wiped them out in 1979. Near retirement age,
they did not rebuild but the red-fronted building across the street from
Don's Restaurant will be remembered fondly by Hazard natives who liked
to gather there and swap hunting or fishing stories with the owners.
From his store, Davis held court for a procession of visitors and
tipsters and friends and even "guys who bring their kids into the
store, like I'm a tourist attraction, and say: 'There he
is.'" It was a hardware-sports equipment store and the Davis brothers liked to
display antiques in their windows. Few people passed the store
without stopping to see what was new and old in the windows. 
Roscoe was a dedicated conservationist & wildlife lover. He loved his hometown, his area and all of
Kentucky and devoted his life to helping to make the earth a better
place. Roscoe was dedicated to serving the Kentucky
River Valley. Sportsmen and Shriners especially were close to
him. Roscoe
corresponded with local, state and national officials about legislation
and polices concerning wildlife. He helped organize the first Gun Club in Hazard about
1932. He was a lifelong member and past president of the Perry
County Fish & Game Club. He was the 7th District Fish &
Wildlife Commissioner in Kentucky from 1951-1963. He served on the
Natural Resources Wild Rivers Commission and worked tirelessly to save
not only our streams but our forests. He was one of the first in
this area to try and preserve Lilly Cornett Woods in Letcher County and was so
very happy when the deed went through to protect this tract of virgin
timber for posterity. In 1965, Roscoe was presented the Wildlife Conservation Award
presented by the League of Kentucky Sportsmen in cooperation with the
National Wildlife Federation and the Sears Roebuck Foundation for
"Outstanding Contribution to the use and management of our nation's
resources."