Part 1:
Who am I? The simplistic answer to this question is pretty straight forward and is set out below. The answer to the deeper, much more interesting aspect of that question will hopefully be revealed more clearly to all of us as this blog progresses.
Now for the easy part:
STATS:
Valorie Wells Davenport
Date of birth: January 22, 1956
Mother: Alice LaRue King Wells
Father: Richard Melville Wells
Married (once) and Divorced (once) ex (Gordon E. Davenport, Jr.)
Two Children:
Gordon E. Davenport, III (dob May 02, 1980)
Alexandrea “Alex” Wells Davenport (January 29, 1987)
Occupation: Lawyer
I, “Valorie Wells”, was born on January 22, 1956, in the City of Angels Hospital in Los Angeles, California, as the fourth child (and first daughter) to Alice LaRue King Wells and Richard Melville Wells. I had three older brothers, so my mother chose to spell my name “Valorie” (with an “o”, rather than the usual “e” — for “valor”) thinking I’d need all the bravery I could get. She was right, but for so many other reasons which she never could have imagined back so many years ago. In any event, my mom was from Texas, my dad was from New York, so it was probably destiny that the marriage would not survive the culture clash. Two more children (twins) only fourteen months later, and it was over. Mom moved with all six of us back to Texas (and in with my grandmother) to make sure we were brought up right. My grandmother was a widow, a retired school teacher, and strict “Church of Christ”, so it goes without saying that we didn’t get away with much of anything. Not that I tried. I was a middle child and it was my job to be good, stay quiet and not cause trouble. “Trouble” was all used up by my two oldest brothers, but those stories will come later. Anyway, Mom did the best she could, raising the six of us with no help from my Dad, just like her Mom had to raise her and my uncle once their Daddy was killed building the old Texas Commerce Bank building in downtown Houston. Somewhere there had begun a legacy of strong-willed (hard-headed) Texas women, and from the looks of my daughter “Alex”, the chain will not end with me. In fact, it looks like Alex got a double shot: her great-grandmother on my father’s side shuttled planes during WWII as a pilot in “The Women’s Ferry Command.’ Like I said, strong-willed, determined women run in my family.
I grew up and went to public school in Houston; attending West University Elementary, Pershing Jr. High then graduating from Lamar High School in 1974. For the most part, I was serious and directed well beyond my years. I got my first real job at 14; accepting “high school” as a necessary right of passage as, by that time, I was working two jobs to help support our family, while dreaming of where life would take me (beyond my present circumstances) after I graduated.

(To be continued)