Regis News Item

Regis High School

Dad was proud of the fact he attended Regis High School, a "competitive admission, tuition-free Jesuit school for Roman Catholic young men in the Manhattan area." Dad rode the subway from the Bronx.
Things I remember: He was proud of his hair and once pulled out a comb in class. The Jesuit called him on it with "Mr Davitt, you may groom a horse in public, but never a man."

He also was somehow corrected when doing something with a play--and forced to recite the Betty Bops Bought some Butter* tongue twister over and over.

He held a track record at the school--and now we have proof that Gerald lettered in Track in 1935.

That's right. "Gerald!" What's with that? Exactly. There was some confusion about his actual name. I seem to recall--but I'm hazy on this--that the birth certificate is Gerald and the baptismal certificate is Ralph Gregory. I was stunned to find this certificate and realize he was called Gerald in high school? Uncle Bob? what is the story here!

* betty bops bought some butter. but said she, this butter's bitter. if i put it in my batter it will make my batter bitter. so she bought a bit of better butter, better than the bitter butter, and it made her bitter batter better.
.............
from Rick: I remember lots of stories around Digger's name. In the early years he avoided questions about it, and so the mystery grew. You might remember the scribble that was his signature? To my eleven year old eyes the first letter looked more like a G than an R, thus his 'real name' must be Gerald!

Later in life I remember he explained the naming: a rogue relative inserted their wish for his name on the Baptismal Certificate, but the Birth Certificate has the correct 'Ralph Gregory'. The Jesuits recognized the Baptismal name only, and so for high school he had to become 'Gerald' and he endured it without any rancor. Might be wrong, but that's the story I remember...

This Is Me, Terry Davitt

I was looking for something in the closet today and found all the Davitt albums...and a ton of loose photos. My sister, Pat, and I have discussed labeling them--someday.

My nephew, Max, has been recently asking about my dad. It made me realize that no one has the sense of Digger that his own kids do. So I thought I'd jot some stuff down.

Ralph G. Davitt
Born in 1916
Grew up in the Bronx
Attended Regis High School
Joined the Army Air Corps
Earned the nickname "Digger" on the golf course. (Double Divot Diggin' Digger Davitt)
He loved the nickname and all of his friends and grandchildren knew him as Digger.
I loved my dad.