Davis, Carol Beery

Carol Beery Davis was a Juneau musician and composer who collected and wrote down the music of the Tlingit Indians.

Carol Beery Davis was a musician, poet, writer, and piano teacher. She was born in Hicksville, Ohio in 1890, and studied piano in her childhood. She came to Alaska in 1920 to work as an organist for a silent movie theater. In 1922 she married Trevor M. Davis, a photographer. The Davises had four daughters: Sylvia, Shirley, Constance, and Patricia. Mrs. Davis wrote music including the Alaska Flag Song and many pieces based on Tlingit melodies. She also wrote poetry and established the Poetry Society of Alaska, which acclaimed her Poet Laureate 1967-69. She also wrote articles and contributed them to fourteen magazines and newspapers. Among her many awards she was voted Alaska's Mother of the Year by American Mother's Golden Rule Committee, 1952, and Woman of the Year by Juneau Rotary Club, 1965. She received an honorary degree from the University of Alaska Juneau in 1983. In 1984, Mrs. Davis and her husband, Trevor, were co-recipients of a state Alaskan of the Year silver anniversary honor. Still in evidence today is her effort to restore the old Kimball theater organ and place it in the State Office Building lobby. Carol Beery Davis died in 1990 at age 99 at the Juneau Pioneers Home.