Jack Wayne Davis, 88, a longtime resident of Hilton Head and a retired executive of the Kroger Co. grocery chain, died Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2004, in Hilton Head Regional Medical Center, where he was being treated for pneumonia. Born in the Welsh community of Oak Hill, Ohio, in 1915, he was the son of John Edward and Marietta Jones Davis. He attended schools there, and helped in the grocery store owned by his father and his father's twin brother. Graduating from Oak Hill High School, he held numerous jobs to pay for his education at Miami University of Ohio, The Ohio State University and Ohio University, where he graduated in 1939. He joined the U.S. Navy as an officer in April 1942, and left the service as a lieutenant in December 1945 after duty as the gunnery officer protecting Liberty ships crossing the North Atlantic. On May 29, 1943, he married Virginia Travis Ranshaw Moore, a native of Covington, Ky., and recent graduate of the University of Cincinnati, who he had met while working in a Navy office in Cincinnati. He began his career with Kroger immediately after the war, and worked through a range of responsibilities, from the personnel department to merchandise buyer to branch manager overseeing a number of stores. Rising through the grocery company's executive ranks often involved moving to another city for a more responsible job, and the family that started in Toledo also lived in Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Milwaukee and Nashville. He retired in 1975 from the position of vice president in charge of Kroger's large Nashville and Atlanta regions. He and Jinny had discovered Hilton Head in 1970 while on a vacation. They purchased property in Sea Pines and moved to the Island in 1975, making many friends. After ten years on the Island, they moved to Clemson, S.C., where they made many more friends. They returned to Hilton Head in 1997 as residents of the Tide Pointe retirement community, adding a new group of good friends.Mr. Davis, grandson of a Wales-born minister and a superior singer of Welsh hymns, was a member of Providence Presbyterian Church in Hilton Head, and had belonged to Fort Hill Presbyterian Church in Clemson and First Presbyterian Church in Nashville. An avid sports participant and spectator, he enjoyed golf and tennis, was a member of Richland Country Club in Nashville and followed Clemson University sports as a member of IPTAY.Besides his widow, he is survived by their three sons and daughters-in-law and four grandchildren, Jack and Amelie Davis Jr., of Hartford, Conn., and Claiborne; Stephen and Jan Davis, of Nashville, and Sarah; and Mark ("Captain Fuzzy") and Kim Davis, of Hilton Head, and Kerry and Drew. He is also survived by two of his sisters, Eloise Allison, of Silver Lake, Ohio, and Marilyn Davis, of North Charleston. A memorial service will be held Saturday, Aug. 14, 2004, at 2:30 p.m. at TidePointe.Memorials can be sent to Providence Presbyterian Church, 171 Cordillo Parkway, Hilton Head SC 29928; and to Alzheimer's Respite and Resource, 50 Pope Ave., Hilton Head, SC 29928.The Island Funeral Home and Crematory is in charge of arrangements.