NORTHSIDERS CELEBRATE LIFE WITH ADVENTURE
Stepping off a plane in a new place or revisiting a favorite destination for a unique adventure can hold the same excitement while, at the same time, offering a person a different perspective.
For Madison resident Marisa Davidson, travel is a way for her busy family to connect by sharing new experiences. It is also how they celebrate life. Marisa and her husband John live in Madison with their children Malee and Ty.
When Marisa and John found out their son - now a seventh-grader at Madison-Ridgeland Academy (MRA) - was in need of an organ transplant at three months old, John learned he was a viable candidate to donate his liver to his son and the transplant was successful.
For several years, the family of four made their way to Disney World on Ty’s birthday to celebrate another year of life.
“Those were some challenging times, and I think it gives you a different perspective on how you carry forward not taking things for granted,” Marisa said.
So, they aimed to make the most of the time they were given thereafter.
“It’s those times when you have a lot of uncertainty that you come away from it with a different mindset,” she added. “We’ve been able to do the fun things when they were younger, Disney cruises and going to the beach and skiing.”
Recently, they began venturing out and taking trips abroad. For Marisa, traveling internationally is almost second nature, something that she grew accustomed to after summers spent visiting family in Thailand.
“My parents are from Thailand,” Marisa said of her now Jackson-based parents who are both physicians in the metro. “I grew up traveling internationally. So, I’m accustomed to that, and it’s great being able to give your kids that experience.”
While they have not traveled to Thailand together as a family yet, they have made repeat trips to Africa for two consecutive summers.
“Just seeing the animals and learning about the conservation efforts and political issues there. It was rewarding for us to do that,” Marisa said.
For her, it is important for her children to gain an understanding of other cultures while traveling, to learn about the people around them, their traditions and their customs.
“We had a great experience on a houseboat in the Chobe River in Botswana,” Marisa said. “We would see kids on the shore, and we would go out on a little boat and go up and play with the kids and give them some candy, some things we brought from home.”
Memories like this are what Marisa hopes her children will carry with them as they grow up and think back on their time spent together as a family.
Last summer, they went to Telluride as a family, and the summer before they traveled to Hawaii. In the past, they have also visited Turks and Caicos and taken Disney cruises.
Each spring break, their tradition is to go out west to ski. Park City, Deer Valley and Steamboat typically top their list.
“It’s a great change of pace from here and such beautiful scenery,” Marisa said. “We’re a pretty active family, so we enjoy skiing.”
Marisa describes John as an outdoorsman and hunter, so he and Ty make time for hunting excursions every now and then as well.
The plan for this summer is still up in the air, but Marisa says whatever they do, they will be deliberate in making the most of the time that they will have together.
“It’s just really trying to plan around your kids activities and making the most of the summers they have left at home,” Marisa said. “Now, it can be challenging to plan those trips and get some exposure.”
Some of their options being tossed around for this summer’s adventure include visiting family in London and taking her daughter, who is active in the performing arts, to see several shows. They also have their eyes on a professional soccer game, perhaps Chelsea, as Ty is a D-I soccer player.
“We have just a few more summers yet, and we have to be very deliberate with how we spend those,” Marisa said. She also hopes to make the most of the time spent in between summers, and that her children make the most of the opportunities available to them at MRA and beyond.
Marisa grew up in the Jackson area and graduated from Madison-Ridgeland Academy. After graduation, she attended Ole Miss where she earned her bachelor’s degree in Biology, while also joining a sorority and serving as director of school spirit. She went on to earn her MBA from Millsaps College.
“I actually directed the first pep rally under the lights at Vaught-Hemingway,” Marisa said. “We just had lights installed. That was the season that we thought Ole Miss would make it to the Sugar Bowl. We planned a big, almost like a march, to the stadium. It went up and down sorority and fraternity row and you would just come out of your houses and join the procession. So, that was a fun time.”
While John and Marisa had not met yet, he was at Ole Miss at that time as well attending law school. Both ended up moving back to Jackson, however the two never crossed paths until the night they both attended a party for a mutual friend.
Now, the couple makes time to take their family back to their old stomping grounds in Oxford for a few games each year.
Marisa has worked at Mississippi Health Partners for 25 years, where she is now the CEO. She carves out time in her busy schedule to serve in any way she can at MRA, where her son Ty is in seventh grade and Malee is a ninth grader.
“It is fun to have them back where I was,” Marisa said. “The school has grown a lot. I think one of the great aspects of the school is the Christian foundation.” Currently, Marisa is serving on the MRA Board of Trustees for the fifth year.
“A board is charged with corporate responsibility there, and I think we have got a great team of individuals in the school community, in the business community, who are able to bring their expertise, whether it is accounting, legal, finance, corporate development, business development,” Marisa said. “I think we have been able to assemble a great group of trustees.”
She previously has served in various other capacities, such as room mom, helping out with milestone activities, serving as chair of the gardens tour and on the performing arts volunteer group.
“I’ve seen the school change, even just in the five years that I’ve been on the board,” Marisa said. “Just how we have completed some building projects, how the enrollment has expanded and how we have added some courses. And really just improving our overall facilities and just being a really attractive place.”
