Adah Davis ’38 was a very private person who devoted her life to helping others. Upon meeting her, you might think she was quiet and unassuming, but, oh, how wrong you would be! Adah was a force to be reckoned with.
Adah grew up near Erie, Pennsylvania. She was a beloved niece to her aunt, who was the private nurse of William Bell, Class of 1897. Adah often traveled with her aunt and Mr. Bell, and she frequently served as his secretary. It was Mr. Bell who spoke with Adah about attending his alma mater, Westtown School, where he had served on the General Committee and donated funds to build the stadium tennis courts.
Adah attended Westtown for two years, graduating in 1938. She then enrolled at Wellesley College and, after graduating, joined the Army and served in the Philippines as a nurse during World War II. After the war, Adah earned master’s degrees from Yale University in public health in 1945 and from Columbia County Teachers College in Ohio in 1950. She continued to work in public health in Connecticut, Michigan, New York, and Pennsylvania, often training other nurses. Adah loved her work.
Upon retirement, Adah moved to the Crosslands community in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. It was close to Westtown and many other Westonians lived there, including a few classmates. She delighted in coming to campus to attend musicals and the holiday concert with Susan Temple ’68 (former Associate Head of School) and me, and lunches with former Head of School John Baird.
John recalls,“It was always a good day when Adah came to Westtown. She wanted to know, in detail, about Westtown today. She had a keen interest in our current and future plans and priorities and what they would mean for students. She delighted in seeing student activities around campus; her face beamed while watching a play, a concert, or a demonstration in the Science Center. In one conversation, Adah reflected that despite all the changes that had happened since her time at Westtown, its essential character was the same. For her, the evidence of that was in the caring, respectful relationships between the faculty and the students. The teachers, she said, had always conveyed the feeling that the world is going to survive, and that Westtown students were going to play an important part. I can’t imagine a more meaningful or hopeful confirmation of the school, the teachers, its students and graduates.”
I had the privilege of getting to know Adah on a deeper level. We spoke regularly on the phone, went out for lunch every year on her birthday, walked together at Longwood Gardens or the Crosslands’ garden, and enjoyed afternoon tea and cookies or her homemade bean soup.
In our discussions Adah asked probing questions about the school. She was keenly interested in the physical plant, faculty salaries, and financial aid. She gave generously every year to the Westtown Fund, in addition to substantial gifts to the Bicentennial Fund, the Science Center renovation, and the Head of School Discretionary Fund, which she established. Upon her death in 2019, Adah left $3.1 million to Westtown, the second-largest single gift in the history of the school at the time. This transformational legacy gift funded the Adah R. Davis Scholarship Fund, the Westtown endowment, and renovations to the Center for the Living Arts.
Adah was an extremely good steward of her assets, which have passed to Westtown where they make a difference in the school and the lives of our students every day. Her life was indeed a life well lived in service to others. Thank you, dear friend!
Written by Ellen Gilbert ’76 for the 2021-2022 Annual Report
For general inquiries, please contact Dean of Advancement Ellen Urbanski at ellen.urbanski@westtown.edu