FAMILY NAME	Davey
Given name 1	William
Given name 2 etc	Vernon
Date of Birth	04-12-1901
Place of Birth	Prospect, S. A.
Date of Death	24-03-1975
Place of Death	Prospect, S. A.
Place of Burial	Dudley Park Cemetary
Arrived in South Australia (date/ship etc.)
Lived in Prospect Council Area (Dates)	04-12-1901 to 24-03-1975
Addresses in Prospect Council Area	23 Charles Street Prospect.
Lived outside Prospect Council area (Dates)
Addresses outside Prospect Council Area
Names of houses (if any)
Parents - names; DOBs etc (if known)	Richard Williams Davey Born 15-05-1868 Died 20-02-1922   Mary Ann Philpot Born 1869 Died 30-06-1940   Richard & Mary were married in 1889.
Spouse(s) - including maiden name; DOBs etc. (if known)	Selina Gladys Pointon Born 03-11-1904 Died 11-10-1982
Date(s) of Marriage(s)	30-05-1928
Place(s) of Marriage(s)	Prospect North Methodist Church, S. A.
Children - names and dates of birth/death if known	Stanley Vernon Davey Born 07-05-1932 Died 01-04-1996   Alan Edward Davey Born 01-02-1936 Died
Education
Occupation(s)	Master Plumber
Interests/Activities	Piano Playing, Choir Singing, Listening To Music, Gardening, Fishing, Reading, Playing Cricket, Umpiring Cricket Games.
Religion/Churches	Early Life, Pulsford Road Methodist Church Later, Prospect North Methodist Church
Local Government experience (if any)
Notes (points of interest etc.)	William Vernon Davey, known as Vern, was born in Prospect on 4th December 1901 and lived in the area for his whole life. For about 10 years the family attended the Pulsford Road Methodist Church, where they were part of the choir and the “Band Of Hope”. Vern’s Father Richard Williams Davey was the Sunday School Secretary there. Later they became members of the Prospect North Methodist Church. Vern and two other family members were proud members of the choir at that church for many years. Vern and his younger brother Lance were in the church cricket team, and the team were premiers of their division, for the 1928-1929 cricket season.   Vern trained as a Master Plumber and worked with his 2 brothers in their father’s plumbing and hardware business at 118-120 Prospect Road at Prospect.Vern told his Grandson Roger Davey, several amazing stories of near misses. One time he slipped from a roof and fell right through the top of a rather rusty old rainwater tank. Luckily the tank was full of water, and he managed to scramble out of it with nothing more than a few scratches on his arms. Another time Vern was working on a two storey building, when a bricklayer working above accidently dropped a brick. The bricklayer yelled out “Look Out”, Vern jumped backwards, and the brick brushed the tip of his nose and landed right at his feet.   Working at a house in Prospect, Vern hit his thumb with a hammer. To relieve the pain and pressure, Vern put a hole through his thumb nail with a small drill bit. The lady of the house walked out the back door, saw him doing it, and just fainted on the spot.   On another occasion working in Prospect, a lady asked Vern if he could look at this old kerosene lamp that she had. As he tested it, the lamp exploded, giving Vern nasty burns on his forehead. The lady rang for help and asked if he wanted a shot of brandy. Vern told her a nice hot cup of tea would be just fine. Several years later, younger son Alan went back to that same lady’s house to do some plumbing work. For some reason the lady thought Vern had died, and said how sorry she was about “poor Mister Davey”. Alan told the rather shocked lady that Vern was very much alive and well, and that he would pass on her best wishes to him. ‘ Vern married Selina Gladys Pointon, known as Gladys, on the 30th May 1928. They had two children, Stanley Vernon born 07-05-1932, and Alan Edward born 01-02-1936. Vern and Gladys lived in the house that Vern built for them, at 23 Charles Street Prospect. In early 1928, shortly before their wedding, Vern was working at the house one Sunday afternoon. Some people from the Seventh Day Adventist Church were preaching from door to door. They told Vern that “you are a mortal sinner for working on the Sunday sabbath day, and you will surely be struck by lightning”. Vern told them his own church allowed working on Sundays, so he wasn’t too worried about lightning.   During World War 2, Vern was a member of the local Home Guard. Vern really enjoyed gardening, he grew beauiful Roses and Hippeastrums, and had great success with Watermelons, Tomatoes, and Broad Beans. In the 1950’s Vern and older son Stan were  umpiring cricket matches in the local area and elsewhere. I think they were umpires at District Cricket level at some stage too. Vern and Gladys were quite talented piano players, who very much enjoyed playing at home and elsewhere, among family and friends. Family members recall when Vern played left hand chords, he leaned all of his “stiff old plumbers body” over to play them.   Vern just loved listening to music on his wind up “Rexonola” Gramaphone, that was a 1925 model. He proudly told family members how he saved up, and bought it for cash in 1925, from Harris Scarfe Limited in Adelaide. When the Grandchildren visited, Vern took great delight showing it to them, and playing some of his old 78 RPM shellac records. Vern enjoyed reading the novels of Jules Verne, and books about science, nature gardening, history, and many other subjects.   In Vern’s retirement years he and Gladys enjoyed spending time with their families, and particularly their Grandchildren. They co-owned a holiday house at Edithburgh that they shared with younger son Alan and his family. At Edithburgh Vern and Gladys enjoyed fishing, relaxing, and sight seeing drives around the York Peninsula area. They had many happy family holidays there with sons Stan, Alan and their families. At home at Prospect the grandchildren had many fun sleep-overs, and they enjoyed a delicious scrambled eggs breakfast that Vern cooked for them. Also to be enjoyed was his home made lemon cordial. The lemons came from a large tree that stood outside the kitchen window. Vern liked to bake cakes from time to time in his later years. His “Grandpa’s Light Fruit Cake” was full of dried apricots, and other dried fruit, and was enjoyed by everybody in the family.   In the early 1970’s Vern had a stroke that left him legally unable to drive. Vern was a  kind hearted man who was very much loved by his family and seven grandchildren. Great sadness came to the family when he passed away at home on the 24th March 1975. Gladys lived on at Prospect, and still drove to their holiday house at Edithburgh, until nearly the end of her life. Gladys developed Motor Neurone Disease, and passed away after a short stay in hospital, on the 11th October 1982, again bringing great sadness to the family. Vern and Gladys are burried in the Dudley Park Cemetary.
Cross-references eg to siblings, parents, children	William Vernon Davey had four siblings.   Richard Clyde (Clyde) Davey. Born 06-02-1893 Died 16-07-1964   Laura Irene Davey (King) Born 05-03-1897 Died 1979   Doris May Davey (Bowey) Born 13-06-1899 Died 29-08-1989   John Lancelot (Lance) Davey Born 29-08-1911 Died 06-11-1967
Sources of information	Roger Davey – Grandson Of W. V. Davey. Various Other Family Members.
Principal Researcher(s)	Roger Davey.