Donald Davis is the master of such a tradition. He leaves his audiences "limp from laughter and with a lump in their throats" reports the New York Times.
Our kids and now our grands have grown up with his tales. Caleb (11) was privy to hearing him in person last year in Texas. This past weekend Owen (10) attended a storytelling festival at Balmoral Presbyterian in Memphis.
A few years ago, hubby and I shared his Grand Canyon CD with family on our Westward Ho trip. We laughed "all the way to the bottom of the canyon" with him.
Davis says, " Storytelling is not what I do for a living---it is how I do all that I do while I am living."
I first met Donald Davis at the Methodist camp at Lake Junaluska, NC as a 17 year old. He worked in the bookstore and I was a camper. As a librarian, many years later, I heard him at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN.
As a Methodist minister, Davis understands the importance of passing on stories, both Biblical and personal to the next generation. (Joel 1:3 & Psalm 78:4) We should all do the same.
That's why hubby and I both choose storytelling and the importance of passing on that oral tradition.
