Lorraine Davis, 61; Ran for Panama in Olympic Events

Lorraine Dunn Davis, 61, a Washington, D.C., accountant who in her youth represented Panama in 1960 and 1964 Olympic sprinting events, died Oct. 16 at North Arundel Hospital in Glen Burnie, Md. The cause was a heart attack.

Born in Panama, where her father was an accountant for the Panama Canal, Davis came from a family of athletes but pursued competitive running only when a friend said she could travel abroad if she were a member of the Panamanian national women’s track team. She qualified for the team at age 15 and began international competition at the 1959 Pan American Games in Chicago, winning a silver medal in the 400-meter relay.

Davis attended Tennessee State University on a track scholarship, becoming the teammate of legendary runner Wilma Rudolph. Davis represented Panama in the 1960 Olympics in Rome; in the 1963 Pan American games in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where she earned a bronze medal in the 200 meters; and in the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo.

After her graduation, she largely abandoned competitive running to concentrate on her accounting career. She worked for such companies as Caterpillar Tractor Co., Pabst Brewing Co. and the National Bar Assn.