Violet Ruth Cooper

Violet was born in 1896 in Manakau, Horowhenua. She was the second child and second daughter in her family. Her father was a builder/carpenter and sometimes farmer. They moved around the Horowhenua and moved to the Waikato by the time she was seventeen. She was always known as Ruth.

In 1919 the family had moved to Auckland and were living in Mt Eden. Typically as a woman, her occupation isn’t recorded on the electoral roll. She is simply a spinster. But she did work as a typist in the office for Burns Philp in Hamilton before she was married and briefly as a waitress in Auckland.

She had married Thomas (Wal) Davys in 1924 in Hamilton. Before her marriage she lived with her parents in Firth Street Hamilton East which runs along the north side of Steele Park. Wal, was living with his mother and sister in Cook Street which runs north to south on the eastern edge of Steele Park. They were almost neighbours! Ruth and Wal began their married life living with his mother and sister.

In 1926 Ruth was thirty and the couple had just welcomed their first child.