Peninsula In Passage

Diane Davis Driver may not be a typical honeymoon destination but to Diane Davis, a retired flight attendant from Texas, it was perfect. “In May of 2003, my husband John and I were driving through Virginia on our honeymoon when I saw the sign for Driver and told him that we MUST go there.” Davis says. “I sincerely felt a strong draw and the magnetism carries forth today. “ Although Davis grew up in Falls Church, Virginia, her roots go back to her great-grandmother, Henrietta King. Local lore says that King was only 17 when, shortly after the Civil War, she designed a two-story house on Bennett’s Pasture Road that is still a landmark in Driver. King, sister of peanut baron John King, had the two-story home built from cypress and black walnut from the property. The T-shaped house had twin drawing rooms. The dining room and kitchen were set apart and connected by a colonnade to the main section of the house. According to Davis – John King, Henrietta’s brother, had a house similar to hers and that is now The Baker Funeral Home in Suffolk. At 19 Henrietta married James Phelps, 33, her sister’s widower, making her niece her new stepdaughter. Then about five years later, after Phelps died, she married William Norfleet Harrell. Henrietta and Harrell had three children and one of them was my grandmother Mary Harrell who was born in the house at 4800 Bennett’s Pasture Road. Mary inherited a large sum, married Bill Pebworth, a Navy veteran, and, moved to Norfolk. They had one child, my mother Henrietta Leanora Pebworth, nicknamed Pebby. Even in Norfolk Mary had the ‘Driver heart’. For years during the Depression, she invited beggars in the back entrance by

Henrietta King Phelps Harrell

the kitchen and made sure that they had food. The Pebworths, because of Mary’s money and his being able to keep his job, did better than most through the Depression . My mother went to school in Norfolk but flourished in Driver where she spent holidays, summers and every possible weekend. Mother was bright and bubbly. She made friends easily and partied with many cousins. Every visit was festive and, always, someone was entertaining. The entertaining began with Henrietta King (Phelps) Harrell and continued with her son Herbert and his wife Bess. Neighbors were relatives; some close, some distant. Henrietta King Phelps Harrell died in March 1938. William N. Harrell died in 1909 at 56. He had been missing for six weeks and his body was found floating in the Elizabeth River in Norfolk. From Driver Pebby learned games, sailing, tennis, and took flying lessons, as did her best friend Ann Hurff. Most adults were aunts and uncles, related or not. Pebby was safe and moved happily thru the county. In 1942 when she married my father, Delamater Davis, Jr., of Norfolk, and followed his Army Air Force career to New Mexico it was like Wendy saying goodbye to Peter Pan.

Diane Davis and her brother Jack Davis

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