By William “Skip” Deegans
Shown in this circa 1909 family photo is young Walter Creigh Preston of Lewisburg. He is seated second from the left. Born in 1895, Preston was the son of Judge John and Lillie Davis Preston and attended the Greenbrier Presbyterial Military School (forerunner of Greenbrier Military School) and Washington and Lee University where he was a member of the college band and a coxswain on the crew. He received a Ph.D. in chemistry from Johns Hopkins University and became a research chemist for Proctor and Gamble in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is credited with developing silica gel (the small packets that reduce moisture in medicine, electronics, and other products).
Standing in the back row, fourth from the left, is John W. Davis who served as United States Ambassador to Great Britain and was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for president in 1924 when he was defeated by Calvin Coolidge. Also in the photo and looking very intense is Julia Davis sitting on John J. Davis’ knee. Julia Davis was homeschooled by her grandmother in Clarksburg. She attended Wellesley College and graduated from Barnard College. She was one of the first women to be hired as a reporter by the Associated Press. Later, she became a social worker and novelist who wrote some two dozen books, many of which are about West Virginia.
Walter Preston died in Cincinnati in 1950, and Julia Davis died in Charles Town, WV in 1993.
Photo courtesy of the West Virginia University West Virginia Regional History Center.
Sources: Greenbrier Independent, PBS, New York Times.