Dad's McCook memories create daughter's love for his hometown

Melissa Davis of Manitou Springs, Colorado, holds a copy of the Gazette's review of McCook's history, "Centennial Edition," printed in 1982. She stands in front of the lot on which her grandfather, W.H. "Harry" Davis built his family's home in 1920, at 509 Main Street, now 509 Norris Avenue and the location of Memorial United Methodist Church's playground. Melissa grew up listening to her father Elvie Davis' stories of growing up in McCook; Melissa has her own memories of summer vacation and holiday trips to McCook. Melissa says that she and her sister "always felt that McCook was the little town in 'The Music Man'." Even today, the rhythmic rumble of tires on McCook's downtown brick streets lets her know that she's where she likes to be ... where she might want to be when she retires. (Connie Jo Discoe/McCook Gazette)

McCOOK, Nebraska -- Growing up in Chicago and Denver, Melissa Davis fell in love with her dad's hometown back in Nebraska, through his eyes and his memories.

She cherishes the stories that her dad told her about growing up in McCook -- his family, his friends ... all their adventures.

And Melissa made her own memories of McCook as she visited family in the summer and at holiday time. "We came back for summers, and for funerals," Melissa said, smiling.

The house that Melissa Davis's grandfather built in McCook, at today's 509 Norris Ave., moves from that location to a farmstead southwest of McCook in February 2011. Dr. Furman lived on the north, the Methodist Church was on the south. (Connie Jo Discoe/McCook Gazette)

"Crazy, isn't it?" she asks with a grin ... to love a town that she's never lived in? But, consider that her family history is in McCook and in the McCook and Maywood areas, her father's memories and his desire to stay connected, her own childhood summers spent in a "Mayberry" setting of the 1950s, '60s and '70s.

"We got the Gazette delivered in Denver. We'd recognize half the names, and were related to half of those," Melissa said. "We followed the news. We always felt like a part of the community."

Even today, she reads the Gazette online, recognizing the names of people from her and her dad's past -- even the name of the first girl her dad kissed.

The devastating fire in 1964 that destroyed four businesses in downtown McCook is a personal memories of Melissa Davis of Manitou Springs, Colorado. While she was in McCook at the time of the fire, many of her memories of McCook are those shared with her by her father Elvie, who grew up in McCook. (Gazette archives)

Melissa's family is made up of solid stock -- her great-grandparents, Nathaniel "N.Y." and Emma Davis, traveled by covered wagon and homesteaded near Maywood in 1884. "Emma walked to Maywood from Iowa," Melissa said. "She was 24 years old, with three children under the age of 6 and pregnant with twins when her husband stopped at Maywood and said he was returning to Iowa to teach for the winter."

"The twins died, and she buried them," Melissa said. She's proud of her great-grandmother's fortitude. "She'd be so embarrassed by me," Melissa laughed. "She'd think I was the greatest wuss ever!"

The Davis family set down roots in the Maywood and White area, grew and married into the Dodson family. "There were double cousins who played together and looked exactly alike," Melissa said. "There've been Davises and Dodsons there ever since."

Melissa's dad, Elvie Davis, was born in White, near Maywood, to W.H. "Harry" and Alda Dodson Davis, the daughter of C.P. and Margaret Dodson and the sister of Jake, Prince, Harry and Delta Dodson.

Harry and Alda moved to McCook in the early 1920s with their three children: Helen, Marie and Elvie, into the house they built at what was then 509 Main Street. The new house was sandwiched between the Methodist Church on the south and Dr. Furman's house on the north.

Dr. Furman played a prominent role in Elvie's life as he grew into a mischievous youngster. "It seems Dr. Furman was always sewing up my dad, or pulling something out," Melissa chuckled.

One such adventure happened in the basement of the new house, when Elvie was showing his buddy, Leonard Jordan, how to load a gun. Melissa says the story goes that when Leonard tried to load the gun, he shot Elvie in the foot. The two climbed the stairs and walked through the house -- "Elvie 'squishing' in his shoe and Leonard mopping up blood behind him" -- and Marie (who had a crush on Leonard), upstairs, flirting with Leonard as the boys walked through the room. "Dad squishing and Leonard cleaning up blood," Melissa laughed. "Dad jumped the fence and went to see ol' Doc Furman," Melissa related.

Melissa said the way her dad described it, whenever he needed to, he "just jumped the fence, knocked on the door and ol' Doc Furman took care of the problem."

Another adventure involved Leonard -- again -- and the water stand pipe in the city's Main Street park, just a couple blocks north of the Davis house. "Dad and Leonard were practicing their dives into the water tank, and swimming in it," Melissa says her father's story went. When housewives started fixing supper, and the men started cleaning up after work, the water level in the tank dropped -- and Elvie and Leonard could not reach the top rim to pull themselves out. Marie came along and must have heard them banging on the side of the tank, and Elvie had her pass them picnic benches that they then stacked, to rescue the boys.

Melissa remembers, "Dad used to walk me by the water tank and tell me, 'That's where I almost drowned'."

Elvie also shared his memories of the Methodist Church on the other side of the Davis house. Melissa says her dad's story goes: "Dad had a crush on a girl who sang in the Methodist Church choir, but she liked a boy who was going to sing a solo. She was soooo impressed with that." Her dad, rejected and dejected yet having access to the church, filled the church with "stink-bombs" that mysteriously went off during the rival suitor's solo, Melissa chuckled.

Elvie's other memories of music involved a performance by popular jazz cornet-player Ernest Loring "Red" Nichols and his "Five Pennies" in one of the theaters in downtown McCook. According to family legend, "Dad thought the guys in the band had maybe 'indulged' a little," Melissa chuckled, "and they needed someone to step in for one of them who might have indulged a little too much, and Dad got up and played piano with them."

Another memorable visitor to McCook may have only flown over -- world-famous pilot Charles Lindbergh. "Dad remembered that Charles Lindbergh flew over McCook ... and that he threw Tootsie Rolls out of the plane," Melissa said. Melissa's dad stressed to his kids the importance of this early pilot. "Dad said Lindbergh was 'like the Beatles. He was a rock star, and I got to see him'," Melissa's dad told his kids.

Elvie also talked about "The Newsboy," the Curtiss Robin C-1 radial-engine airplane that Harry Strunk purchased to air-drop daily his Gazette newspapers to carriers waiting on the ground in 46 Southwest Nebraska and Northwest Kansas communities, in 1929. "Dad talked about the Newsboy so much," Melissa said.

"Dad remembered when Glen Hughes crashed his plane," Melissa said. Hughes, and fellow flyer Willard Dutton died when their plane lost a wing and it crashed 3,000 feet into a cornfield on April 11, 1933, with such force that the engine was buried in the ground.

Another aviation memory of Elvie involved the U.S. Army Air Base located northwest of McCook during World War II. "Dad told us about all these 'white cows' after training bombers dropped practice bombs -- bags of flour -- on cows in the fields," Melissa laughed.

After graduating from McCook Senior High and helping re-lay the railroad from McCook toward Denver after the Republican River flood of (Memorial Day) 1935, Elvie walked to the railroad depot and flipped a coin: Tails, he'd head west; heads, he's head east. Melissa laughed, "Now, this didn't necessarily mean he was going to buy a ticket ... "

"Dad had helped re-lay the track toward Denver and he had a taste for the big city," Melissa said.

It was heads -- and Elvie ended up in Chicago. He worked as a bellhop in a "very, very nice hotel," Melissa said. The hotel was "The Medinah Club," which is still on Michigan Avenue. It was the place where movie stars and gangsters stayed in those days, Melissa said. He worked in Army ordinance and, after World War II, in electronics and eventually in computers.

It was in Chicago that Elvie met the woman he would marry. "Mom was Greek and grew up in Chicago," Melissa said. "Dad always told us kids, 'Don't ever forget -- you're immigrants on both sides of the family, just separated by a few hundred years.' In the 1930s, my Mother's family was starving while Dad's family was dumping milk."

When Melissa was seven, her family moved to Denver where Elvie started an electronics firm.

Vacation time and holidays still meant trips to McCook, where Melissa's dad and her Uncle Elmer (Lofton) brought home "the best hamburgers and cheeseburgers - ever. Ever," from the pool hall on the highway. "I always had a funny feeling that Dad had spent some of his teen years there," she laughed.

Growing up, Melissa realized that McCook's own Senator George W. Norris was a subject in John F. Kennedy's book "Profiles in Courage." "Norris wasn't a politician," Melissa said. "He was a statesman. When I mentioned the Kennedy book, Dad asked me, 'Why do you think McCook changed the name of Main Street to 'Norris Avenue'?'," Melissa said.

Melissa remembers the February 1964 fire that destroyed four downtown businesses at the corner of Norris Avenue and B Street. "The fire lit up the sky," Melissa said, as she and neighborhood kids stood on the porch at 509 Norris. "Mom told us kids to come inside, but my brother and a cousin snuck down the street to see the fire," she remembers.

The fire started in the basement of the Economy Shoe Store and spread into the Kansas-Nebraska Natural Gas Co. office, A&M Drug Store and Sailors Furniture -- all of which were within one brick, two-story building that shared a common attic.

Melissa said her family was in McCook the night of the fire -- in February, a time of the year they wouldn't normally have been there -- because her grandfather, Harry Davis, had died two days before.

Melissa said her grandfather died of a heart attack crossing Norris Avenue after obtaining a loan at the bank to purchase more farm land. "He was 85 years old, and getting a loan to buy a farm, more farm land," Melissa said. "I like my grandfather's mindset."

Melissa's dad, Elvie Davis, died in 2000. Melissa, her sister and her brother kept the family home place near Maywood. "I wanted to keep our family's investment in the area," Melissa said. "This is our family home."

"I wanted to keep our family footprint here. It might be nice to 'come home' some day," Melissa says wistfully.

Melissa was an attorney for 15 years, serving as counsel for the Colorado General Assembly and Department of Health. She has also taught history.

In 2009-2010, Melissa was one of 12 students accepted from among 1,000 applicants to study at Liverpool Hope University in Liverpool, England, for a master's degree in the social, cultural and musical impact of The Beatles.

"Some of it was harder than law school," Melissa said. "My dissertation was on The Beatles' reception on the Ed Sullivan Show on television on Feb. 9, 1964, when 74 million people tuned in to see this new phenomenon."

Following her graduation, Melissa founded "The Beatle Works Ltd." in Manitou Springs.