The book of Tex

Frank Davis, known as Tex, was born in 1926 – but not really. One of a family of eight kids growing up near Sackville, Nova Scotia, his birth wasn’t legally registered until he was a year old. That means that, technically, the 98-year-old is actually just a year shy of becoming a centenarian.

It’s one of the many interesting facts Davis has accumulated over his nearly 100 years of creativity, compassion, adventure and service. Today, he’s the resident “poet laureate” at St. Joseph’s Health Care London’s Veterans Care Program, a home for Canadian War veterans and members of certain civilian groups.

After the loss of his beloved wife Irene in 2020, he realized he needed a little more support and decided to move into long-term care in 2023. Over the past year, St. Joseph’s Veterans Care Program has become his home – complete with framed photos of his family on the walls, a custom-made book of his poems on the nightstand and all three of his uniforms hanging in the armoire.

A boy’s life

As a boy in rural Nova Scotia, Davis started working at a very young age, doing farm jobs like cutting down Christmas trees to help support his family. It meant dropping out of school early, but he was constantly learning through hard work and physical labour. “You had to have your wits about you back then,” he says.

The service years

That quiet strength led Davis to embark on the next great chapter in his life – enlisting in the Canadian Army in 1942. He first joined the Halifax Rifles militia for artillery training, and later trained with the Pacific Forces in British Columbia. It was out west that he acquired the name Tex for his skill in clearing cattle off the road during training, a nickname that’s stuck for seven decades. After World War II ended, he spent time in the Signal Corps as a motorcycle dispatch rider. His passion for motorcycles hasn’t let up, either – he’s still “kickstands up” for a ride through the countryside as a member of the 1st CAV Ortona motorcycle unit.

Finding beauty in art

Returning home after service, “the most beautiful thing happened to me”, Davis says: meeting his wife for the very first time. She was his server at a restaurant one day, and accidentally spilled some coffee on his hand. She leaned over to kiss it better and the rest was history. They started a family together on the east coast and then moved to Ontario, settling in London with their children.

Even though he didn’t have the opportunity to learn to read and write in school, Davis didn’t let that stop his love for poetry from flourishing over the years. He wrote poems in his head, inspired by the beauty of nature or experiences in his life, and committed them to memory until he had a chance to get them down on paper.

In early 2021, while he was spending time in St. Joseph’s Parkwood Institute for an injury, a staff member took a video of him reciting a poem and shared it on TikTok to give people optimism during the pandemic. To everyone’s surprise, especially his, it went viral – amassing millions of views.

“I couldn’t believe it went viral,” he shares. But Davis is used to seeing his words make an impact. Whenever one of his fellow comrades at Parkwood Institute passes away, he recites to his neighbours the same poem he wrote for his son’s funeral years before. It’s his way of honouring their memory through art.

Honouring Canada’s Veterans

From his daily walks admiring nature to attending East Coast-style kitchen parties in the pub, he is grateful for all of the opportunities he’s been offered since moving into St. Joseph’s Veterans Care Program.

“I’m very proud of everything I’ve done,” Davis shares. “And now I’m very fortunate here. I’m really well looked after, I’m comfortable, and everyone around me is too.”

Kim Smith, an Instructor in the Veterans Art program, gets to spend time with Davis every week and helped him compile his poems into his treasured book.

She shares that the generosity of donors from across the region makes care better every day for the Veterans who live at Parkwood. “There are so many opportunities for the Veterans to take part in activities here, and they enjoy having a place to learn new things or continue doing the hobbies they love. Donor support gives us the chance to offer different things and think outside the box.”

“These residents are amazing for so many reasons,” says Smith. “We get to serve Veterans, which is a huge honour in itself, and then we get to learn about so many other interesting things they’ve done in their life.”

Your Donation Matters to Tex

Your gift today will help fund essential medical equipment at St. Joseph's.

Donate today