Memorials › Addie Avery Garrett Davis
Addie Avery Garrett Davis
13 Apr 1916 – 24 Feb 2003
| Birth | 13 Apr 1916 |
| Death | 24 Feb 2003 |
| Cemetery | Oak Grove Cemetery Yoakum , Lavaca County , Texas , USA |
| Added by | TL Brasfield on 27 Dec 2016 |
| FaG | https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/152561782 |
Bio
Addie Avery Davis* (or "Avery" Davis or "Mrs. Charles Thomas Davis, [Jr.], as she went by in her 1963-4 FBI and DPD Statements) was a relatively new employee of Scott-Foresman & Co. Publishers, on the 4th floor of the Texas School Book Depository (TSBD), and along with her 20 year-old Scott-Foresman coworker, Judith Louise "Judy" McCully (later King; b. Aug. 12, 1943, Tulsa; d. Dec. 26, 2010, Kingsville, Tx.; burial site unknown) was an eyewitness to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on 11/22/63. At the time Mrs. Davis had been employed as their Office Services Representative for only 5 months when plunged into this national tragedy. As one of the assassination eyewitnesses, Avery Davis gave an FBI Report, an FBI statement, and one interview with the DPD CIS, but was never called to testify to the Warren Commission. In her first FBI Report, dated 11/23/63, she said that she was "standing on the front steps of the [TSBD] building" - but makes no mention of being with her coworker, Judy McCully. She further reported that she "didn't realize they were shots" and "immediately returned" to the building and took the elevator back to her 4th floor office. In a follow-up report, with the DPD CIS by Det. Senkel, dated Feb 16, 1964, she said that she watched the motorcade from the TSBD steps - this time stating that she was with her Scott-Foresman coworker, Judy McCully - and after hearing the shots, which she thought came from the RR underpass to the west of the bldg, "She then went back to work on the 4th floor." In her final FBI Statement, dated Mar. 20, 1964, she said she "took up a position on one of the lower steps of the building entrance" to view the motorcade, and furthermore stated "I recall my coworker, Judy McCully...was standing by me, I believe to my left," however, it's not documented precisely which step(s) they were on or if they were on the east or west side of the steps. She reported she heard 3 explosions and at first didn't realize they were gunshots, but after she saw "a policeman" run toward the President's limo [an obvious reference to SS Agent Clint Hill, since no policeman ran toward the limo] , she "surmised that someone had shot at the President." To get a better look, she said that she and others then moved forward toward the President's limo about 15 feet, momentarily, but she then "turned and returned inside the Depository building." Later she reported she left the bldg around 2:30pm, when police permitted, and returned home by bus. In her coworker's initial FBI report, dated 11/24/63, Miss McCully stated, in stark contradiction to Mrs. Davis's statements, that she had watched the motorcade - not from the Depository steps - but from their 4th floor office (with no mention of Davis); and reported that, at the time, she didn't notice any suspicious activity on the part of anyone in the Depository building, or among the persons in front of that building. The report was taken by 2 agents, one being her uncle, FBI SA Edmond C. Hardin. However, In Miss McCully's final Mar. 19, 1964 FBI "voluntary statement," she told Agents she was on the Depository front steps with Mrs. Davis. And in an unusual addendum to her statement, it was noted that in her initial FBI Report she had told Agents, that she was on the 4th floor watching the motorcade, but that she now "wished to clarify this point by stating she was actually on the front steps of the main entrance to the building". According to her daughter, Miss McCully was encouraged to correct her FBI statement and "keep her mouth shut" by her uncle, now deceased, FBI SA Edmond C. Hardin. It is still a great mystery as to why she made up this story. Avery Davis is seen in a well-known photo by photographer Wm. Allen, to the left of the Depository front steps, not immediately after the shots, but some time after the assassination - in a large crowd that had gathered on and in front of the steps. She is the much older woman (Davis was 47yo at the time) who appears to be closely hanging out with a much younger girl, who appears to be in her late teens or early 20s, At first I believed this girl to be Judy McCully (who was 20), but family photos shared by Ms. McCully's daughter, along with yearbook photos of Ms. McCully, have proven this young girl is not Davis's coworker. In this photo, in which Davis is looking squarely at the camera, she looks remarkably like her paternal great-grandmother, Margaret Ann Byers Garrett (findagrave memorial #19418597) in her older years! She is also seen, by herself (ie: unaccompanied by this young woman), in front of the Depository steps in photos by photographers Jim Murray and Jay Skaggs, and in an additional photo by Murray in the midst of a large crowd gathered on the grassy slope in front of the North Pergola (by the Grassy Knoll), where many people congregated to try to find out what had happened. All of these photos were taken some time after the assassination - not during or in the immediate seconds after the shots. Additionally, neither she, nor McCully, can be seen on or around the front steps of the Depository during the shots, or in their immediate aftermath - seconds after the shots - when a crowd surged forward for a better look down Elm Street, in the Wiegman, Couch or Darnell films. ** Avery had 3 siblings, : W.M. Garrett, Emma Alice [McMillian], and Welton Garrett all born in Texas and all now deceased, as is her husband, Charles Thomas Davis, Jr. Avery was born in Thomaston, TX and the 1930 and 1940 censuses have her living with her mother, father and siblings in Brazoria County Pct 1, on the Angleton-Clute road which leads to Freeport on the Gulf of Mexico (although for some odd reason her SSDI says her SSN was issued by the state of Virginia - not Texas - and I can find no evidence that she ever lived in Virginia. If anyone knows the answer to this, please message me). It appears she returned to Angleton to live for some years after she retired - USPR shows her living there at least between 1996-2000, and some of her siblings and in-laws are buried in Angleton. The 1940 Census notes she had 3 years of college, by that point, and was a grade school teacher (most likely in or around Freeport). She may have taught in Angleton. In the 1960 Angleton HS yearbook, I found a Junior High School Faculty photo of "Mrs. Davis," (fnu), and a group photo with her posing with her 7th grade class. I did not find her in any other years' yearbooks She looks like Avery Davis, who would have been 44yo at the time, and she looks to be at about 44. In '59 Avery's daughter was a Freshman in a San Antonio HS yearbook, but not after that time, so it is possible she/they may have moved to Angleton for a year or so, before moving to Dallas. Angleton is just 15 miles north of Freeport, which was founded in 1912 by the Freeport Sulphur Company - the world's largest sulfur mining company - where, according to the 1930 census, her father, Christian K. Garrett, was employed as a teamster. In 1931, it diversified into manganese by purchasing a controlling interest in Cuban-American Manganese Corporation in Oriente Province, Cuba, gaining access to rich deposits of manganese oxide ores used in steel production. And in the 1950s they developed the Moa Bay Mining Company in Moa Bay Cuba, where they also mined cobalt and nickel until Castro nationalized the company in 1960 and the company had to write it off as a tax loss. ** Avery Davis Obituary Mrs. Avery Davis, nee Garrett, age 86, died February 24, 2003 in Boerne, TX [a suburb in Greater Metropolitan San Antonio ]. She was born April 13, 1916 in Thoma[t]son, TX. Avery is survived by her children, Tom Davis, Brian Davis and Ann Ayres; grandchildren, Elizabeth, JoAnn and Bob Ayres, all of San Antonio. Visitation will be on Friday from 9:00 A.M. to Service time. Service will be on Friday, February 28, 2003 at 11:00 A.M. at the Ebensberger Funeral Home. Burial will be at 4:00 P.M. at the Oak Grove Cemetery in Yoakum. Arrangements with Evensberger Funeral Home. Published in Express-News on Feb. 26, 2003. See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/sanantonio/obituary.aspx?n=avery-davis&pid=88832639#sthash.2LWiu4j7.dpuf ** *I have found her full birth name written as both "Addie Avery Garrett" and "Avery Addie Garrett" but more commonly "Addie Avery". Over the years she went by both "Avery" and "Addie" so I'm not sure which one is her legal first name. In 1963 she only went by "Avery" not "Addie" in her FBI and DPD witness statements.
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