"...Growing up in rural Georgia, we were certain that riding behind a pair of mules would not get us very far.  Thus, when we heard the train whistle, when we saw the locomotive speed by  or slow down as it pulled into the station, that was something we could grasp.  It was something we could reach for.  We dreamed!..."  France A. Davis, as told to Nayra Atiya

       Nayra Atiya is presently working on FRANCE: AN AMERICAN,  the Story of Dr.  France A. Davis, community leader, pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church in Salt Lake City, Utah, Professor at the University of Utah, husband of Willene Witt Davis, father of Carolyn, Grace, and France Davis, Jr., grandfather to Cedric Davis, and next to the youngest sibling in a family of nine.  
       The book not only highlights the achievements, personality, and life story of this charismatic leader, but gives the reader a glimpse into African-American culture,  the rural south where Dr. Davis grew up on a farm in Georgia, a farm owned by his father, Deacon John Davis, and his mother, Ms. Julia Cooper Davis.  
       One reader wrote:  "This is a page turner, chock full of rich detail.  You feel as if you are living with France Davis and his family, partaking of the values handed down by his parents and his community, through, story, song, example.  It is really a glimpse into the rural South of the 1940's, 50's, and 60's as lived in a vibrant African-American, church centered family in the tight-knit community of Cooper's Town, Georgia."