River of Faith

Jim Davis and Fayne Kirley were born eleven years and thousands of miles apart. Somehow, a beach boy from California and a rancher's daughter in South Dakota found each other in 1939. Their relationship survived Jim's capture and subsequent imprisonment of nearly four years by the Japanese in WWII. Fayne was unprepared for life with a POW with possible PTSD, for being an officer's wife, and for their frequent moves after the war. For Jim and Fayne, love and faith were the added ingredients needed for their survival and resilience during the tumultuous 1940s and 1950s and beyond.

Jim Davis and Fayne Kirley were born eleven years and thousands of miles apart. Somehow, a beach boy from California and a rancher's daughter from South Dakota found each other in 1939. Their relationship survived Jim's capture and subsequent imprisonment of nearly four years by the Japanese in WWII. Following the war, Jim and Fayne married but Fayne was unprepared for life with a ex-POW, for being an officer's wife, and for the regimentation of Navy life. After the war, Jim's sometimes erratic behavior and the Navy's misunderstanding of PTSD led to leaving the service prior to his twenty years. The ensuing years of raising three children in such diverse places as Virginia, Arizona, Hawaii, Wyoming and California proved to be full of challenges and growth. For Jim and Fayne, love and faith were the added ingredients needed for their survival and resilience during the tumultuous 1940s and 1950s and beyond. Author Dinah Davis researched her ancestors back several generations to England, Scotland and Germany. There are stories of their immigration to this country from the 1600s through the 1800s, including the settling of the Midwest, South Dakota and California. This a fascinating generational saga is packed with pictures and family trees. Davis's hope is that readers and future generations of Kirleys, Howlands, and Davises will discover that most lives are interesting, complicated and full of possibilities.

Dinah Davis was born in San Diego, CA and lived on naval bases and in church parsonages for her first eighteen years. Dinah has a BA from the University of Wyoming, an MA from California State University, Bakersfield and an EdD from the University of San Francisco. For most of her career, she taught and counseled special needs and at-risk high school students in the Central Valley of California. Dinah was inspired to write her family story after her mother died, when she discovered boxes of letters, pictures and newspaper articles that had been stored for years, documenting the lives of her parents.