Retired, about 1990

Wilson & Grace Davis

Grace Geneva Wilson Davis was born at home in Ridgely, Maryland, in 1909 to Howard Clifton and Bessie Mosley Wilson.. Home was a farm and her family had farmed in the area for generations.

Grace's journal has this to say about life 80 years ago: "I remember visiting Grandfather and Grandmother Wilson on Sunday after church. We had a horse and carriage and it was fun to ride over the dirt roads, two of us sitting on the floor and the other one up with Mom & Dad. I'll always remember grandma's hot biscuits and climbing on grandpa's knees while we waited for dinner.

"My mother worked too hard taking care of the family and helping Dad in the field. As we were growing up we had to learn how to work in both the house and the field too. My older brother Charlie would care for me when Mom went out to work. I loved Charlie.

"At Christmas we got one tiny toy. There was very little money so they bought us clothes which we needed to wear. We got treats like an orange, hard candy and nuts. But these were happy times with the five of us together. (Grace had two brothers.)

"I remember my father taking me on my first train ride to Wilmington with a big steam engine puffing away. I couldn't wait to get back home to tell my mother and my brothers about that trip.

"I was just getting used to school when my grandfather Wilson took sick and died. I remember the big horses drawing the casket instead of in a car."

Life's challenges were presented early to Grace. When she was 10, her mother contracted tuberculosis. "In August, 1919, my mother called us into her bedroom, one at a time. Charles was first, then me and then Howard. This was one day in my life where I hope I will never forget those loving kind words that Mother wanted me to know and to do. She died shortly after. Her death changed our whole lives."

After the death of her mother in 1919, her father sold the farm and the family removed to Cheswold, Delaware where he took a job for wages. He couldn't care for three young children. They went to live with relatives until he married his wife's sister, Mabel Mosley, the following year.

Four years after her mother died, her older brother Charlie, who she had dearly loved, came down with typhoid fever and died. "His last words were, 'Grace, here's Mom, she's come for me.' This sort of frightened me and I said, 'No, I don't see her,' and he pointed to the foot of the bed and again said, 'There she is,' and passed away. He was such a good brother, and so young to die, only 15, but I know now that he is with Heavenly Father and his parents and we will be together someday.

"When I was about nineteen my parents decided I could get a job if I wanted to and I'll never forget it. I went to work for Mrs. Boyce. She knew my family and she paid me $3.00 a week. After many weeks of work I had enough to go shopping. I bought a new dress, shoes and a bag and after more weeks of work I bought a new coat. When I think back now about the colors I can't believe what I bought then: a bright pink dress and a burgundy coat. But I was so happy with them. Before I wore them I would go look at them hanging in the closet."

Wilson Seville Davis was born August 18, 1912 at Clayton, Delaware, son of William Henry and Orda Durham Davis. Grace met Wilson Davis at the end of the 1920's. Wilson Davis' family lived on farm next to the Wilson's residence. Their acquaintanceship became dating and then marriage. They both agreed on this: they wanted no part of farming life or its work or its messes or its odors. Wilson Davis always said he was blessed beyond words when Grace agreed to marry him. Wilson was an extremely hard worker and the two to set out to make a life together. Two years after her 1934 marriage to Wilson S. Davis, they moved to Wilmington, DE where they resided and worked for over 40 years.

But life in the early years was tough. Their daughter, Betty, had to live with a relative in Philadelphia for a couple of years as they struggled with the low wage jobs available during the depression. Grace was very distressed to have Betty living away from her, especially after visits when they both would cry at parting. Hard work by Wilson and Grace united the family in the mid 1930's.

During World War II, Grace made nylon for parachutes at the DuPont Company. After the war she and her husband operated a small restaurant in Wilmington, after which she worked until retirement as a pastry cook for Tower Hill School in Greenville, DE. Many a student was pleasured by her delicious sticky buns! In her leisure hours she enjoyed sewing, knitting, crocheting and growing beautiful flowers.

Wilson became the sexton of Christ Church at Greenville, Delaware for over 30 years and retired from that job in 1978 to reside at Bishop's Corner and later Dover with his wife. Wilson was a member of many bowling leagues in Wilmington and rolled three 300 games. He was inducted into the Wilmington Bowling Association Hall of Fame on October 21, 1989. He was instrumental in the integration of Wilmington area bowling alleys in the 1950's prior to the great national debate over this issue. He was also a self-taught master woodworker and created a bed, coffee tables and a flag pole with bowling motifs. A walnut dining-room table he created from the remains of a black walnut tree whch had been sold by Christ Church to a lumberman is a work of art.

Continuing from Grace's journal: "Wilson said when we were first married he had a plan set up where we could visit every state and we did every state except Alaska, some states more than once."  Wilson was a traveller and Grace loved to take care of her nest, but true to her sweet nature she would go on the road with him all over the United States and Canada. In 1964 they travelled to Hawaii to visit with Betty and her husband.

When Wilson became addicted to bowling and became a championship bowler, rather than going on being alone in the evening, Grace learned bowling -- to become one of the best on her team. She wrote, "A long time after we were married I didn't bowl but finally I gave it a try and I enjoyed it so much that I even bowled a couple of years after Wilson had to give it up."

Iin 1961, while on a trip out west they were sight-seeing through Idaho and noticed an awe-inspiring building. They went to investigate. It was the Idaho Falls Temple. When they went into the visitor's center they were warmly greeted and knew after viewing films and having discussions that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was what they needed in their lives. Grace says in her journal that their baptism was the greatest thing ever to happen in their lives. "I am most proud first of having loving and kind parents and grandparents. And to have a home where family and friends come to visit, the Gospel in our lives and to serve in our Washington Temple and I like to help others -- do nice things for them and to visit the sick."

Health problems forced them to move to their daughter’s home in Beltsville, MD in 1992. They celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary Apr. 18, 1994 together with the three generations they had a hand in creating. Shortly after their 60th wedding anniversary, Wilson passed away, May 31, 1994.

Grace died at home from the effects of Alzheimer’s Disease early Thursday morning, July 22, 1999, 12 days shy of her 90th birthday. Surviving her were daughter Betty; five grandchildren, Elizabeth G. Terry of San Francisco, William W. Terry of Springville, Utah, Frances Terry Phillips of Columbia, Maryland and Ellen Terry Reichard and David J. Terry of Beltsville, MD; eight great-grandchildren, Zachary, Aaron and Seth Terry, Thomas and Meghan Phillips, and Lauren, Abby and David Reichard; two sisters, Elizabeth Davis of Hartly, Delaware and Mae Collins of Cheswold, Delaware; a godchild, Colette Carney Wheatley of Dover, and many relatives and friends.

 

Bowling Facts Challenged
by Matt Zabitka, sports columnist for the Wilmington, Del. News-Journal

W.L. "Bill" Stradley, 'Mr. Bowling" of Delaware, takes issue with some of the facts expressed by W. Thomas Braxton in my March 14 column: "Braxton recalls rolling through difficult times."

Braxton noted black bowlers in Delaware, as late as the late 1950s, were denied access to lanes in the First State. "Not until about 1960 did any bowling proprietors in Delaware take the initiative to allow blacks to bowl competitiively in their establishments," Braxton was quoted as saying. "Other than the Walnut Street Y, which had four lanes, blacks were barred from bowling in any Delaware establishment."

"Braxton did not have all his facts correct," writes Stradley, a Wilmington Bowling Association Hall of Fame charter member, who has been a member of the WBA board since 1950. "He [Braxton] states that John Scott at First State was the first to admit blacks in 1960. I am attaching a photo copy of the WBA's 12th tournament held in 1952 at the Parkway Bowling Academy, then managed by Jack and Bobby Tigani. I have circled in red the names of the black bowlers [Thomas Chase, Leo Tolliver, Freddie Wing, Fletcher White, Noah Daniels, Oria Obyrant, Wilson Davis, William Fleming] who bowled in that 1952 tournament. Most names appeared in your column.

"Also," adds Stradley, who is president of the Delaware State Men's Bowling association and has been the secretary of the WBA since 1969, "you listed the name of Bob Fleming. If my memory is correct, his name was William with the nickname of 'Boob' and he was in charge of the 'Monday Club' that was, I think, on French Street, between 6th and 7th.

"You will notice the name of Wilson Davis, and I want to explain as best as I can remember. I believe that this man was of the black race but had a really tough time of being accepted by both blacks and whites. As I remember the story, he was called ' a 'Moor,' and I believe he was from the Smyrna area. I am also certain that he bowled in the 1950s in City Alleys on Tatnall Street. I have proof that he rolled a 300 game on Sept. 27, 1957, and it was at City Alleys.

"Mr. Davis, along with his brother, Robert, was a caretaker at the Christ Church in Greenville." Stradley said he read the March 14 column with "great interest, since I knew personally most everyone who was mentioned, and it brought back many fine memories of those in your column." Stradley wanted it made known that his intention is "not to open a can of worms, but is to let you know that Braxton did not give you all correct items."