When Davis King Summers was born on January 31, 1887, in Shelby, North Carolina, his father, James, was 58 and his mother, Jane, was 38. He had three brothers and two sisters. He was employed as a telegrapher by the Southern railway in Atlanta College of Physicians and Surgeons from which institution he was graduated in 1914, and practiced his profession at Chatanooga until he enlisted in May 1917. He served in the U.S. Army during World War I as a First Lieutenant in Medical Detachment, 18th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division. He was Killed in Action on March 1, 1918 in France at the age of 31 and is now buried in Elmwood Cemetery, Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, USA.