There are countless individuals in the history of our great country, the United States of America, of such outstanding character, accomplishment, sacrifice and principle that they inspire those same virtues in those whom they touch. Every family lineage has such people. These special people build and bind their families. They help form family foundations for successful and happy lives. They inspire and embolden their progeny to build their families strong and to carry on family traditions of steady character and love. They give us courage, determination and the will to succeed in life. This is the story of such a man in the family of Davis.
The Nether Shore of No More Partings tells the story of William Thornwall Davis (1877-1944), a Kentucky native who overcame serious obstacles in his early life to become a world-renowned ophthalmologist, having served with distinction as a medical officer in the U.S. Army in three wars. A featured chapter, "The Quest for Datu Ali," recounts a suspenseful episode in the U.S. campaign to quell the Moro Rebellion in Mindanao, the Philippines, in which Dr. Davis displayed extraordinary courage. The greater part of the book is based on the discovery of an eloquent correspondence between Dr. Davis and his son Roger, the author's father, in which the senior Davis is seen guiding and building up his family against a backdrop of the beginnings of global conflict in the 1930s, and then the war. In the letters between these two men, as well as other members of the family, devotion to family emerges as a theme that binds together all the circumstances, adventures, and characters of an eventful life. Ultimately, what carries the family through all its joys and trials is the prospect that, in the words of Dr. Davis's grandmother, they will all someday meet "on the nether shore of no more partings."
