Other Notable Deaths

"He's one of the reasons that I'm doing so well with my life and raising my kids, because he inspired me," Davis said. "He expected people to be the best that they could be at anything they could be. He was very high on education."

A longtime Republican, Searcy said he experienced a change of heart during Barack Obama's presidential campaign, and he canvassed for the Democrat at his senior housing complex in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley. When Obama issued an invitation to the Tuskegee Airmen to attend his inauguration in January, Searcy jumped at the chance.

He traveled with two other local airmen to Washington, where he claimed a front seat among celebrities, dined at an inaugural banquet, gave interviews and danced past midnight.

"We did it all," Searcy said as he returned to California.

Searcy said he was energized by the inauguration.

"It's just like why I volunteered for the military," he said. "In your life, you do things you feel are meaningful to everyone. You don't isolate."

Davis said Searcy became ill in May, soon after going to visit her and other relatives in Atlanta.

He is survived by daughter Robyn Searcy Lander of Atlanta; four grandchildren, Carlton Searcy Cooper of Los Angeles, Rashla Adams of San Francisco, and LeQuan Lennett and Davis of Atlanta; and great-grandchildren De-Jai Davis, Diarran Davis and Dakwam Davis.