THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 8, 1994 TAG: 9406080425
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Guy Friddell
DATELINE: 940608 LENGTH: Medium
Davis reported for the Winston-Salem Journal, covered politics for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, served as dean of the Washington and Lee School of Journalism, edited the book page and wrote a column and editorials for the Roanoke Times & World News.
{REST} And at his death last week at 68, he left 10 consistently excellent books, three of which were little masterpieces of autobiography that reflect, vividly, major eras starting with the Depression of the 1930s.
And he appeared to enjoy it all.
Slight of build, long of face, bald of head, he had a great dip of a grin that flashed upon seeing an old friend, with whom he'd soon be in a brisk chat of how the world was going. And if Pax sighted injustice, he had at it in his column. Colleague Ben Beagle described him as ``a gentle curmudgeon.''
People sought him, in person and print, just to feel better.
The reprinting of one of his columns by The New York Times set off a deluge of letters from readers. It swept Davis into writing ``Being a Boy,'' published in 1988 by John F. Blair in Winston-Salem ($16.95).
He recalls boys playing baseball with tow sacks as bases, founding the Meketchum Detective Agency to apprehend John Dillinger, listening to radio serials, dancing with girls at a female academy, going to cowboy movies.
``We had little respect for cowboys who carried two guns, thinking it a vainglorious display,'' Davis wrote, ``though why we failed to apply that same severe sartorial standard to their fancy shirts, tight britches and ornamented boots I cannot imagine.''
A funny part - it brings to mind James Thurber - deals with his Presbyterian mother's vow that he memorize the Shorter Catechism.
``Each Sunday afternoon . . . she sat me down on the side porch to master new blocks of questions and answers . . . I was drilled till my teeth ached, and when I'd finally get the new batch down pat we'd return to the first page and rerecite all I'd learned before, so that each Sunday's drill session inevitably grew larger week by week. I became desperately angry and sullen and, though I loved her dearly, kept imagining Mother as the target of bayonet practice.''
The book's popularity assured a sequel, ``A Boy's War'' ($17.95), opening with a classic vignette of VMI, where Davis spent a year before entering the Army.
He wound up in Burma with doctors looking for the carrier of typhus. He faced death on a jungle trail and had the duty of disinterring the dead for shipment home.
The third volume, ``A Boy No More'' ($17.95), describes how Americans went on one of the great benders of history. Although the veterans remembered peace, most had never known prosperity. Suddenly they had both. Pax found the joys of newspapering.
Reading his memoir, you catch glimpses of yourself in its pages. With Father's Day almost upon us, you may wish to call 1-800-222-9796 for a copy. I don't think Pax would mind my slipping that in.
by CNB