But she sat up and took notice last year when she spotted an on-air promo for the upcoming Lifetime network series “Army Wives”. There in a starring role was the “long-legged, long-armed, skinny as a rail” school kid she’d known, grown up to be a striking young woman playing the pivotal role of Lt. Col. Joan Burton, a combat-hardened African-American officer commanding more than 400 men.

“I just knew she was going to grow up to be beautiful, but I couldn’t tell her that at the time because she was only 11 and wouldn’t have believed me,” Thomas recalled. “And, she was a good student because she had to be. I knew her mother.”

The Davis family and the Thomases lived in Joppatowne, in Harford County near Baltimore.  Thomas was not only a sixth grade teacher but the teacher’s union president. Davis’ mom was an elementary school guidance counselor. The two women were not only friends but worked closely together on the school district’s minority affairs committee. Plus, Thomas had two children of her own who were within a few years of Wendy and her sister Kim and all lived in the same neighborhood and were friends.

When she realized that the series, which would quickly become a phenomenon and the Lifetime network’s all-time ratings hit, would be shooting in Charleston, Thomas tried to figure out how to contact her former student and see if they could get together after so many years.

Fate intervened in the person of Jean’s daughter, Judith Miller, who is the office manager for Lowcountry Nursery in Awendaw. Some set decorators for the show had come in looking for plants to use on set and Judith had told them her mother was Davis’ former teacher. She asked how to contact Wendy, and the staffers gave her the number of the production office downtown. Jean left a message…then promptly left town for a month. Davis picked up the message, was excited to connect with her former teacher, and put the name and phone number “in a safe place” to use when Jean would be back in town.

“It was such a safe place,” she admitted, “that eventually even I didn’t know where it was.” Some weeks later, while re-organizing her files, Davis ran across the original message and called Jean immediately.  Joined by Judith’s husband and Wendy’s 5-year-old daughter, Kobi, Wendy, Jean and Judith got together for an evening highlighted by a spaghetti dinner and plenty of reminiscing.

Not very long afterward,area. “My daughter is what’s most important to me. So, I may have to forfeit some work in the off season to stay here with her so she can stay in school.”

    As for her overall “Army Wives” experience, Wendy Davis said, “We’re fortunate that all the cast members get along. We don’t have any big egos. Kim Delaney, who is our ‘marquee’ actor is really down to earth and loves to work. She really sets the pace.”

    The future for “Army Wives” and Lt. Col. Joan Burton? Davis believes that the series will run at least six seasons and might run as many as ten. The millions of fans – many of them men –who have made the series such a runaway hit , and Jean Thomas of Mount Pleasant,  think she’s probably right!

Wendy invited Jean and Judith to the sound stage, which Jean found fascinating, if ultimately a bit tedious. “Wendy was busy shooting and could never find us. We took ourselves on a tour and it was great because now when we see the interiors we know exactly where they are and how they look. Everyone was so welcoming and so kind and happy to meet us. But, it was a lot of work. They must have taken one scene...I think I stopped counting at 13 times.”

Jean and Wendy have remained close, and over light refreshments at the Boulevard Diner on Coleman, Davis talked about the series that has made her name a household word  — and Jean offered her own observations on the little girl that had succeeded in the hard world of Hollywood entertainment.

According to Wendy, back in Maryland she had been a tomboy and loved playing basketball and especially softball. She was particularly good at softball and played it all through high school.

After graduating from Howard University and moving to Los Angeles to pursue her muse, she worked at feminizing her persona to be considered for a wider range of roles. Ironically, it was her early athleticism that helped her create the character of Lt. Col. Burton, a woman who had to be physically tough and mentally strong to be a leader of men.

Ironic as well, Davis initially had no interest in auditioning for “Army Wives.”

When she received the “Army Wives” pilot script, she thought, “I don’t want to do this. I hate the title” and shuffled it to the bottom of the pile.

Over a weekend when she had read all of the other submissions she reluctantly opened the “Army Wives” script “and totally fell in love with the story and the character.”

She won the part and the producers arranged for her and her colleagues to get a crash course in their characters. They took the principal actors to Fort Bragg, where they “shadowed” real people whose lives paralleled the lives of the characters on the show.

“It was a phenomenal opportunity,” Davis said.  “I shadowed a female Lt. Colonel and I learned that one of the interesting things about today’s military is that it has a different perspective on families.

“The current belief is that if a soldier is happy he is more likely to stay in the Army, and retention is a big deal. But, if his family is not happy, he or she is more likely to leave. So the military is taking better care of its families and that’s the job of the base commander and his wife, who is responsible for taking care of the families. She has a full-time job as the female equivalent of the base commander.”

Thomas offered her own perspective:

“When my husband was in the Army the commanding officer would not have had all the wives, including the enlisted men’s wives, at his house for dinner. But, I have a friend who has been in the Air Force recently and says that it’s different now. The practice varies from post to post.”

As for having dinner at all, Davis was dubious.

“My character on the show is pregnant and I’ve put on some sympathy weight, about seven pounds. Now, my character is going to be having her baby soon so…well., you see what I’m having at the diner, water!”

She related with a smile.  Davis is big on smiles. When she went to the craft services table on the set recently and was about to pick up a big, sugary confection. Sally Pressman – Roxy on the show-yelled from across the room, “Hey! Drop that doughnut!” Which she did.

The pregnancy itself has been an interesting experience for Davis. On the set she wears a prosthesis to simulate incipient motherhood and admits “it’s interesting being pregnant during the day and going home at night not pregnant at all. I like it that way much better!”

Davis gives high marks to Charleston, which won out over Shreveport, Louisiana for the “Army Wives” location.  

“The city is very charming. It’s a small town with big city elements.”

She’ll be living in Mount Pleasant for quite a while as her daughter will enter school in the fall and she believes providing a stable environment for her is critically important. In January, she’ll return to Los Angeles for an extensive round of publicity and promotion for “Army Wives” but her parents, who now live in Florida, will take care of everything until she returns.

Now that the series has been picked up for a third season, Davis is seriously considering buying a home in the area. “My daughter is what’s most important to me. So, I may have to forfeit some work in the off season to stay here with her so she can stay in school.”

As for her overall “Army Wives” experience, Davis said, “We’re fortunate that all the cast members get along. We don’t have any big egos. Kim Delaney, who is our ‘marquee’ actor is really down to earth and loves to work. She really sets the pace.”

The future for “Army Wives” and Lt. Col. Joan Burton?

Davis believes that the series will run at least six seasons and might run as many as 10.

The millions of fans – many of them men –who have made the series such a runaway hit, and Jean Thomas of Mount Pleasant,  think she’s probably right.

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