CAROL (Esse) BEERY DAVIS
• Poetry
Inducted: 2024
Deceased: 1990
CAROL (Esse) BEERY DAVIS
Carol Beery was born in Hicksville, Ohio on September 15, 1890. At nine, Davis began to play the piano and write poetry, both becoming lifelong passions.
After moving to Seattle, she began teaching and played the organ in churches and silent movies. In 1920, she was offered a temporary position as a silent movie organist in Juneau. She took the job and never looked back!
Davis taught piano and organ to generations of Juneau children. She became the organist for the Northern Light Presbyterian Church, playing there for about 35 years.
She became interested in Tlingit music, and believing it might be lost, worked with Russian priest, Reverend A.P. Kashevaroff to transcribe Tlingit songs. This culminated first in the book “Songs of the Totem” and later “Totem Echoes.”
Davis wrote and published several books of poetry and music. Her poems describe the love and awe she felt for Alaska and its magnificent beauty: Alaska Driftwood, Home is North, and Fiber Grass. She also published Aurora Images, a compilation of Alaskan songs and compositions, and her autobiography, Northwind Rhapsody. She wrote the second verse to the Alaska State Song which acknowledges Alaska’s indigenous cultures.
Davis was founder and president of the Alaska Poetry Society, a member of Juneau Creative Writers, and a member and officer of the National League of Pen Women in America, Juneau Branch. She was Alaska’s Poet Laureate from 1967-1969.
By the 1970s, the organ that Davis played when she first arrived in Juneau sat in disrepair in the old Palace Theatre. She helped organize the “Save the Organ Committee” to raise money for repairs. Thanks to these efforts, the organ now sits in the main lobby of the State Office Building.
Carol Beery Davis passed away on July 19, 1990, just two months shy of turning 100.
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