Faith and Family, in All its Forms
April 2026 – From 1966 to 1976, Wilma and Manuel Davis cared for 20 children, mostly boys, at the McCalister Cottage on The Children’s Village campus. For years, they awoke in this home, shuttling a score of restless youth off to school and corralling them for meals and homework.
In those days, live-in surrogate parenting was the norm. But since then, The Children’s Village has evolved to prioritize family reunification in community, a more solid foundation for love and belonging. But the century-long story of the Davis’ and their flock stretches far beyond McCalister — even to the present day — and is a testament to our 175-year history serving family in all its forms.
We begin with Wilma, who one might say was destined to serve. Born into a Dutch fundamentalist family in the early 1930s, her parents frequently invoked the biblical story of Hannah. An infertile wife, Hannah prayed for children; God answered, and she bore King Samuel. Wilma’s parents said that this foretold her path in life: dedicating herself to helping children.
“I tried to fight it,” Wilma recalls. “But in the end, I knew I would spend my life supporting youth.”
Fast-forward to the 1950s, and Wilma was realizing that parable. She joined a mission to newly-partitioned India providing charity to impoverished families. For more than a decade, she poured her soul into this work uplifting the most vulnerable in the nascent nation. And it was there that she met Manuel, a child of the subcontinent.
The two quickly bonded over their shared mission. When they returned to the United States, they married, and deepened their commitment to serve youth in need of family. As husband and wife, they began fostering children in their home.
Their capacity for compassion was seemingly boundless. That’s because it was driven by faith. Wilma recounts, “Manuel had a watchword: Service to man is service to God.”
Nothing could distract from their focus on service or their fealty to one another — not even hate. Wilma and Manuel were a rare interracial couple in 1960s America, married even before the Supreme Court legalized interracial marriage later in the decade. Around that time, Wilma recalls walking into a restaurant with Manuel, “It was like a record-scratch moment. Everyone just stared at us.”
The two built a home in defiance of those regressive glares. It is with their limitless love that they came to The Children’s Village and embraced the group home model prevalent at the time. They took on surrogate parent roles for a diverse group of children in care of The Children’s Village.
Though their children came from all different places, Wilma and David made sure their house felt like home to everyone. And so the children saw them as parents, and addressed them as “mom and pop”.
Their biological children, Shanthy and brother, Raja, spent much of their childhood in McCalister Cottage. Inspired by their parents’ commitment to take care of youth, Raja now works with youth and adults and Shanthy has since grown up to carry forward their proud tradition of faith and service. She earned an MSW and became a social worker. Today, she runs a socioemotional learning program at a family foundation based on Long Island.
Shanthy recalls her father’s mantra, that “service to man is service to God.” It is a lesson that she has even instilled in her own children. Like his mother, Shanthy’s son is pursuing a career in social work. He has an internship at a charter school, providing educational support to youth on the autism spectrum.
Shanthy and her son’s careers began thousands of miles away from the mission where Wilma and Manuel met. But despite the distance, the common concern is clear.
Today, Wilma is approaching her 99th birthday, and Manuel has since passed. But even as the years have gone by, the commitment to the care and growth of young people has remained the same.
