Tom Davis was a seventeenth generation Vermonter, political activist, public speaker, storyteller, author, and statesman. Also known as “Tom Terrific,” he was widely admired for his quick wit, humor, humility, kindness, wisdom, and generosity. He valued tolerance, forgiveness, compassion, and activity and lived his life accordingly.  Tom's Bio and Photo Album →

Interviewing Tom

In 2013, Tom Davis hired me to record his recollections and thoughts. I was serving on the Barre Historical Society (BHS) board with Tom. Years before, I had interviewed him about the early days of skiing in Vermont for the Vermont Historical Society and knew him to be an engaging story teller and welcoming person. At BHS meetings I found him to be committed to Barre, social justice, and working people as well. One night, Tom told me that, after having written three books about Barre and people he had known and worked with (and two political mystery novels), he was, at age 82, tired of writing but had more to say. I was honored when he asked me to interview him and to record his memories.

Tom called our sessions “interviews,” but little interviewing was necessary. Tom and I would meet in the conference room at Barre’s Aldrich Public Library and, after I’d set up and found a chair for him that didn’t squeak and he’d adjusted his hearing aids to prevent feedback, I’d ask a question, and off he’d go, speaking freely, keenly, and with gentle humor, while I mostly just sat and listened.

One session led to another. Eventually I had recorded 25 hours of Tom’s recollections about people he’d known, events he’d witnessed and participated in, and changes he’d seen. He also spoke about his love of baseball, skiing, and golf, about the importance of music, and about a world and state that are radically different from the ones he entered in 1931. I found his words illuminating and inspiring, and I admired his deep commitment to Vermont and Barre and, beyond that, to human understanding, fairness, and kindness. It was quickly clear that Tom had a prodigious memory and genuinely cared about the people who had passed through his lifetime of public service—whether a governor, a teacher, a granite worker, or an interviewer.

Tom was also a champion of life-long learning–for himself as well as for others. “Education doesn’t begin and end with the benchmarks of man,” he told my microphone. “Life is education. I may be wrong, but it seems that I’m never going to be able to catch up with what I need to know.”

He also had his peeves, especially partisan politics, income inequality, and the domination of social service programs by office-bound bureaucrats who had little interest in learning directly from the people they purportedly served.

Tom came to his increasingly progressive views without recourse to ideology and despite the leanings of some family and friends. He admired both his Republican father and Franklin Roosevelt and, after a brief flirtation with far-right conservatism while a student at UVM, saw the need for society to stand up for those without voice or opportunity. He was puzzled by people who “could give ten dollars to one man but wouldn’t give one dollar to ten men.” He, on the other hand, had “never been able to walk by somebody who needs a dollar.”

The Recordings

Tom and I discussed what to do with these recordings and decided that a section of the Barre Historical Society’s Old Labor Hall Web site would be an appropriate place for audio segments, transcripts, and photographs. Tom had a deep commitment to the Barre Historical Society and to the Socialist Labor Party Hall, which the BHS owns, maintains, and uses for a variety of community and educational events. The generosity of several folks who also want others to be able to benefit from Tom’s memories and wisdom has now made that site a reality.

The audio segments and transcriptions on this site have been edited for economy and clarity, while still retaining Tom’s warm, thoughtful voice. Some draw on multiple times that Tom spoke about a topic or told a story, and I’ve tried to edit and weave them into a single narrative. Some of Tom’s recollections also appear in his books and in the three commentaries he recorded for Vermont Public Radio in the months before his death.

The complete 25 hours of interviews also cover much more territory, and new segments may appear in the future. Unfortunately, we never got to some topics, including golf, skiing, and chess–three of Tom’s great passions. At some point, we hope that the full transcript will also be available, whether on this site or through a suitable archive.

It has been a pleasure and honor to work on this project. Tom Davis enriched my life. I hope he will contribute to yours as well.

Mark Greenberg, Montpelier VT, April 2020

Tom talks about life in his home town of Barre, Vermont.

The Community was Alive - Barre Memories (Part 1) Barre life in the 1930s and '40s

A Melting Pot - Barre Memories (Part 2) Ethnic diversity and street life in Barre

It was a Magnet The origins of the Barre Auditorium

Tom talks about his family.

\"My Mother Was More Liberal\" — Corinne Eastman Davis Tom\'s mother and her family

A Fair-minded Person – Deane Davis Tom\'s father\'s family and his politics.

I Got Interested in Genealogy – Family History, Part1 Tom looks back on the early history of the Davis family in America.

I Came in with Roosevelt – Family History, Part 2 Tom brings his family history to his own generation.

The politicians Tom knew and worked for and the programs he helped them implement

The Beginning of Change FDR’s visit to central Vermont

He Wasn’t Afraid to Lose Governor Phil Hoff

A Magnificent Leader Sargent Shriver in Vermont

A Sense of Mission Tom's experiences as Vermont's Secretary of Human Services

Involve the Poor – The Poverty Program (Part 1) Vermont and the War on Poverty

True Believers—The Poverty Program (Part 2) Directing the Office of Economic Opportunity and working across party lines

Somebody Met the Bus - Shorty and Joe The importance of human relationships in social work

A Great Education Working in Windsor Prison and for The Vermont Alcohol Rehabilitation Board

Tom talks about his love of baseball.

A Preferred Leisure – Baseball From Barre youth teams to the University of Vermont

A Hero of Mine – Jackie Robinson Trips to major league baseball games and admiring Jackie Robinson

A Bunch of White Guys
Tom at the University of Vermont

Recommended Reading

By Thomas C. Davis:

• Beyond Depot Square: Stories from the Heart of Vermont, self-published, 2006
• Echoes of Vermont . . . People and Politics in the Green Mountains, self-published, 2010
• Out from Depot Square: Central Vermont Memories from the 1930s to the 1950s, self-published, 2006
• The Duval Conspiracy, Marshall Jones Company, 1995
• The Governor’s Man, self-published, 2002

By others:

• Deane C. Davis, with Nancy Price Graff – Deane C. Davis: An Autobiography, The New England Press, 1991
• Michael Sherman, Gene Sessions, Jeffrey Potash – Freedom and Unity: A History of Vermont, Vermont Historical Society, 2004
• Paul Heller – Granite City Tales: Writings on the History of Barre, Vermont, self-published, 2012
• Russell Belding – Hidden History of Barre, Vermont, The History Press, 2011

Many thanks to the people who helped make this project possible:

Gerry Ghazi, Alban Richey, Arthur & Anita Ristau, Bruce Seifer, Carol Healy, Clare & David Duke, David & Nancy Lacroix, Edith A Miller, Elizabeth Slayton, Ellen S. Sivret, Fernand & Ann Peloquin, Joanne Granai, Karen Lane, Marjorie Power, Mary Miller, Maureen Morton, Maurice & Doris Fortier, Paul C Heller, Peter Anthony & Marsha Kincheloe, Quinn Premont, River Valley Workforce Institute, Ruth Ruttenberg, Stephen Martin, Wayside Restaurant, Inc., William & Olene Doyle, and the Aldrich Public Library

Credits:

• Project & Web site producer: Mark Greenberg
• Web site design and implementation: Marjorie Power
• Interviews recorded and edited by Mark Greenberg/Upstreet Productions
• Interview transcriber: Katherine Drury

Photos:

• Davis family photographs and memorabilia courtesy Mike Davis and the Davis family
• Tom Davis Labor Hall photo: Mark Greenberg
• Aldrich Public Library, Vermont Historical Society, World Wide Web