Who is that girl?

....from Uncle Bob:
I believe the picture was taken on the roof of the apartment house - most pictures of shots were taken on the apartment house roofs - it had an open space and then most pictures had to be taken in direct sunlight. Dennis has a picture in his office at home which shows the four of us taken on the roof. Will get a copy. The girl I do not know. I know there was three sisters living in the next apartment house which were in the same grade as Ralph and Joe. There is some graduation (from grammar school) pictures of them in a group shot. It could be one of them. I looked at the knickers - it was the custom then to wear knickers until you reached a certain age - then you got long pants - I don't know the age - I thought Ralph was older from the looks of the picture. Was that a collar he had on - or was it a lobster bib!!

Baby Patty

108 Banks St, Jacksonville, NC (Sep 52 - Aug 53)
This is the house where we had the boxer, Sarki Donk.
A lot of dirt around the houses. We played Hide and Seek with Dad with flashlights at night--and also those whirly things that sparked. We moved here AFTER living at New Topsail Beach.

Greg

211 Marie Rd (RFD #1, Box 694B,) Albany, Georgia, (Jan 48 - Jan 49)
This picture is tagged, Albany, GA, 4 wks, April 49)
Mom's handwriting on the back of this one:
"Norton & May Savage, Ralph, Greg. Canada, May 1951, Memorial Day.
I have heard of Norton and May a lot. They were our neighbors when we lived in St Clair Shores, Michigan. ('50 - "51) Love the hats, boys.

The Brothers, April, 1935

Terry, born in Sumter, SC

There were two addresses for Sumter, SC, where I was born. One house had a Murphy bed.
111 Wright Street, Sumter, SC
202 Crescent Ave, Sumter, SC
Here's Dad, hanging up my diapers!These photos were in Grandma Davitt's album and I don't recall ever seeing them before. I know she came down to visit.

On the Beach

On the back, in Digger's handwriting: Mom, Joe, Peg, Ralph.

Into the Army Air Corps

Uncle Bob, hereafter known as UB, sent this post. Thanks, Uncle Bob!

After Ralph graduated from high school a friend of the family in the shipping business obtained a job for him as an outbound freight rate clerk at Moore-McCormack Steamship Lines. Keep in mind that jobs in 1936 - I believe the date he graduated from Regis - were tough to get. A freight rate clerk's job is to quote shipping rates for all types of cargo and their destination. I.E., a shipment of machine parts to Brazil would be quoted as so much $ per ton of cargo. Somewhere in time he went to school to take up shorthand - which he became very proficient at.

When the draft came along Joe Davitt was called first but flunked the physical due to a bad heart which was caused by rheumatic fever when he was a child. It caused a heart murmur which was never discovered until the draft physical. Joe was always the football placer, somewhat stocky and looked in good shape.

Ralph was the thin kid who ran fast - and when he was drafted - he passed and was sent first to Fort Dix in lower New Jersey. We all took a trip there to see him and I can still remember the old military outfit he was in - even to the wrap-around leggings which were left over from World War I.

(Ralph and his mom, Mary Cecelia Kinsella Davitt)

He went from Fort Dix to Watertown N.Y. where he worked in the military hospital there. He did good work and I remember the story that some doctor there was so impressed with his knowledge and performance that he wanted him to go to med school.

He took a test for the Army Air Corps and passed it and was transferred to flight school. In the next year or two he was all the country on various training - one school was in Salt Lake City where he met your wonderful Mother.

It was the best thing that ever happened to him.
Before he was drafted he had a girlfriend named Natalie Woodfinn- a knockout ! Even I was in love with her at ten years old. Nothing ever developed and I asked him later in time -why he did not keep up the romance and marry her - like I would have -( a Romeo at 10.) He told me that she was good looking but had no personality or depth at all. It was true - a lesson I learned at youth. When he married your Mother - he got it all - Looks -personality-depth and a good sense of humor which I fondly remember. --UB

Daisy and Alpha Digger

Story, anyone?

Daisy Stories

I do remember Digger every evening at cocktail hour, with a bourbon and water in his left hand and Daisy's soggy chewed up rusty red ball in his right hand, out in the middle of the street throwing it for Daisy....until it was too dark or Mom called "vas coe". Daisy was particular about her ball. So when the current one disintegrated, Digger would get a new one, cut off all the outside skin and soak it and mash it to make it acceptable. It was a lucky day when one was found in the alley on one of Marnie's alley walks with Daisy. Already broken in.

And then there was the time that he was up on the roof checking out the air conditioner and he turned around and Daisy had climbed up the ladder! After that whenever a cat had been in the backyard he encouraged her to follow the smells all around and usually the cat ended up in the tree by the patio. And out came the ladder and he let her climb up it to follow the smells. Unfortunately, like Winnie the Pooh, she was better at climbing up than climbing down.

And this picture showed her with her original hair cut. Fluffy white all over. That white hair needed daily brushing (Mom's evening job in front of the TV). And frequent washing by Dad. Followed by her cowering up on the yellow metal table (that Terry now owns) with Digger drying her hair with a hair dryer. Later in life they switched to a lower maintenance saluki cut.

Daisy had the run of the neighborhood. If she wasn't at home for an extended time Digger would go next door to find her in the basement visiting with Jack and Mary.

And the games. Just like in Japan. Digger liked to orchestrate them all. Chase in the house. Daisy chasing Rick and Steve (and Greg?) around and around the hallways. Whose shorts did she rip the rear end out of as she jumped and snapped? Or hide and seek. We would all hide in closets and behinds doors and then Digger would send Daisy around to find us. She always did.

He loved to teach her tricks too. The usual - play dead, roll over, sit, stay, etc. But then more complicated ones too. Cho dai - give me your paw (opposite from shake) - go on a trip. And all this for the soggy dinner kibble that she hadn't eaten from her bowl.

He loved her and she just adored him.

Digger's Brothers

Uncles Bob, Alan, Joe

I just got off the phone with Uncle Bob. He had some great stories--I'm looking forward to adding them!

Tupperware Time with Michael

Mike Davitt and Digger having a picnic.

Digger and Derek

The stories that are fun to hear are the memories the grandchildren have of being with Digger. And, after all they were the only ones in the family who actually called him Digger, right?
So this looks like Halloween with Derek. Dad has on the same shirt, but Derek doesn't. And it looks like he's "helping" to scoop some candy back in the bag....?

War College, 1961 - 1962

Dad was selected to attend the War College at Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, Alabama. A photographer arrived shortly after the furniture did and took this picture for the yearbook. That's Greg, Terry, Mom/MaryJane, Rick, Steve, Digger, Pat.

Montgomery was in racial turmoil during this time. The Freedom Riders arrived in Montgomery in May of 1961.

With dad at War College, he was privy to some of the plans the Air Force had for dealing with the Cuban Missile Crisis. He talked with me about emergency evacuation of the family in the event that the Russians didn't stand down. It was a tense time.

Digger's next assignment was to the NATO forces in Ramstein AB, Germany. Housing for us wasn't available, so we moved to another rental house for the next 6 months (Steve won an ice cream-making machine and Rick imagined he climbed a phone pole at this address.) Dad went to Germany without us. We followed in December.

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...

Getting to Japan

My sister, Pat, was born in North Carolina, and when she was a few months old, we moved to Salt Lake City. (Actually Mom, a new baby, Terry and Greg rode a train across the country. Mom told stories of a priest who was kind and helped her for a while with her kids. I remember riding the train through the Rocky Mountains.) Dad was going to Japan ahead of us and Mom had family there. We lived in a rental apartment and I started second grade and piano lessons. Then we had our pictures taken for the passport.Then we got on a huge ship, the U.S.S. Breckenridge with a zillion other military families, sailed past Alcatraz, under the Golden Gate Bridge and went to Japan. Greg and I were pretty concerned about Santa Claus finding us, so it must've been December. Mom was seasick for the entire trip so Greg and Pat and I just roamed the ship. Learned to play checkers and saw The Littlest Angel at the kiddie movies.This ship served as a destroyer in the Korean War (Dad flew a lot of missions to Korea) earning four battle stars, after it dropped us off in Yokohama. The Japanese were delighted to see us.