Mary Virginia (1934- ) was born at the old Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, to Robert F. Bryan (1904-2006) and Frances Connally Spalding Bryan (1909-1996). She attended E. Rivers Kindergarten and Elementary Schools from 1939 to 1947, North Fulton High School from 1947 to 1950, and graduated from Northside High School in 1952. She continued her education at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College in Lynchburg, Virginia. She married Jarrett LaFayette Davis III (1929- 2019) in 1955 and they had three children, five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Abstract of Interview
In this oralhistory, Mary Virginia recalls her memories of Buckhead. She reflects on changes in daily life from how we get groceries to learning to drive to restaurants and theaters like the Varsity and Garden Hills Theater that they used to frequent. She shares family traditions with her cousins, and her first experiences surrounding deaths of elder family members.
She mentions the houses she lived in on Rivers Rd. in Peachtree Heights West and her neighborhood life growing up on Dellwood Rd. in Haynes Manor. She talks about Second Ponce de Leon Baptist church in Peachtree Heights East and her family connections to the church. She talks about schools attended and the building of the new Northside high school.
She tells of meeting her husband, her marriage and raising her children. She tells how she became Anglican Christian and of the new Christ Church of Atlanta sanctuary she is helping to build next to Trinity Presbyterian Church on Howell Mill Road in Buckhead. She speaks about getting to see her grandchildren.
Judith Vanderver interviewed Mary Virginia Davis May 29, 2024.
