John Cronin Russell Davis, Sr. (My Father) Part VI

Part VIIf: Four Grandchildren of Andrew Russell and Josephine Davis

John Cronin Russell Davis, Sr.
(My Father)
Part VI

• In looking back over the years, the move to Tuscaloosa in October, 1951 would be considered a “permanent” move for my parents. They would spend the next 34 to 40 years rearing their family, seeing children leave home and marrying, grandchildren being born, retiring, and living out their days in an area where many of their ancestors as well as family members had lived for decades upon decades. My parents were 36 years old at the time. For my father a long career at B.F. Goodrich started the year of the move. My mother would soon launch a career in sales that would become legendary. The family would be complete with the birth of Glenn the year before. In these post WWII days, the family would settle and set down roots that are in 2008 producing the 4th generation of Davises.
• Daddy (as most in the South call their fathers) would work at B. F. Goodrich for about a quarter of a century in order to provide for a growing family, but his real love was being a “fix-it” man. He would continuously find ways to explore this wonderful talent. The man could fix anything! He had an incredible mind for the mechanical which was well beyond the doctoral level and was probably much more advanced than any PhD. From washing machines to lawn mowers, small machines, automobiles, clock works, you name it, he could overhaul, reinstall, completely rebuild, and never tire of the tinkering. All of this eventually led to a sideline business that was completely self-taught—piano tuning and piano technician. Through a correspondence course in piano tuning (if you can imagine such—people go to universities to get their piano technician degrees) he began a “moon-lighting” career that continued until he died. Piano tuning and piano repair with the sideline of reed pump organ repair became an obsession with the man. There were always pianos in the basement that were in various stages of repair and restoration. Self-players, spinets, uprights, and even grand pianos passed through the basement on a regular basis. For several years we had a self-player piano with lots of rolls that could entertain for hours on end as long as someone had the stamina to pump the bellows. Two of the six boys took piano lessons and enjoyed playing on their own, but the upright was just plain fun with so many songs from the ‘90’s (1890’s) available on piano rolls.
• Running parallel to the Piano Man’s career was a career in sales that our mother began. Sales of Nobility silverware, china and crystal and sales of Nutrobio (vitamins) were the preludes to the gargantuan sales career as a World Book Encyclopedia representative. The woman probably sold more World Books than any other Field Enterprise representative in the nation, and that is not use of hyperbole. I remember calling World Book headquarters in the mid-1990’s to see if I could get a back year book for the set that my mother had given us in the mid-80’s (a set that she had won because of her super sales even in “retirement”). Since the set of World Books was in my mother’s name, they had to verify the serial number. The sales rep scrolled through page after page of documents which listed all the sets she had sold or won. The rep commented that she had never seen such a portfolio of sales in her entire life! Mama sold a lot of World Books. There was a family joke in which my Dad said that Mama would probably sell a set of World Books at his funeral. She did sell a set on their 49th and last wedding anniversary while they were eating out at the famous Miss Melissa’s Restaurant in Moundville, Alabama. Ten months later in July of 1985, at our Dad’s funeral visitation the long-ago prophecy was fulfilled. As friends and neighbors and extended family filed passed our Dad’s casket on the evening of the visitation, one of my mother’s friends whispered to her that it wasn’t the right time to ask, but after everything had settled down could my mother give her a call. The woman wanted to talk to our mother about buying a set of World Books for her grandchildren. The laughter that came out of Mama’s mouth at the mention of the World Books wasn’t immediately appreciated by the mourners. But, after inquiry, everyone got a big laugh out of the situation and I’m sure our Dad did too.
• The sales penchant that Mama had certainly had not started in 1951 with the move to Tuscaloosa. She was doing sales as a teenager. In fact, in 1933, at the age of 18, Mama won a trip to the Chicago World’s Fair because she sold the most subscriptions to a Beautiful Baby Contest that was held in Moundville, Alabama. Ironically, Daddy was at the same Fair as was mentioned in a previous post. The two had yet to meet but that was soon to happen as Daddy settled in Moundville, Alabama that year after he graduated from high school. My Dad’s cousin, Evan Terry, told me this past summer that his cousin Cronin (our father) met Evelyn Elliott (our mother) at Hale County High School’s football games where Evelyn was head cheerleader. Mama didn’t graduate from high school until 1936 due to the fact that her high school had closed for a time during the Great Depression. She finished high school three years after most of her contemporaries including her future husband. I’ve long thought that Providence had a real hand in that delayed graduation. I don’t think I would be around writing this memory if she had graduated on time.
• Incidentally, that cheerleading gene in Mama has been passed down to her progeny. All you have to do is talk to one of her “chilluns” or “grandchilluns” Enough said. (to be continued)