St. Louis Post-Dispatch -- Maj. Gloria D. Davis knew her granddaughter missed her and was unnerved by her deployment to Iraq. So about two weeks ago she mailed a DVD of herself reading Sesame Street and Scooby-Doo stories to the 6-year-old.

Davis, 47, wanted to do whatever she could for her family, from supporting her daughter through college, to sending her mother cards and flowers every special occasion, to putting her granddaughter's mind at rest with bedtime stories.

Originally of Portageville, Mo., Davis phoned her daughter, Candace Thomas, from Baghdad nearly every other day to see how she was doing in school and to assure her granddaughter, Kennedy, that she was fine.

But her last phone call came two days before she was found dead of a gunshot wound, Thomas said.

The Department of Defense has labeled Davis' death Dec. 12 a "non-combat related incident" and has said her death is under investigation.

Thomas, of Lorton, Va., said her family has been given few details.

Davis, an 18-year U.S. Army veteran, was deployed to Iraq in September. A Defense Department release said she was assigned to the Defense Security Assistance Agency in Washington.

When Thomas last spoke with her mother, "she was just as happy as she could be," she said. "She loved the Army."

Before joining the Army, Davis worked toward a degree at Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff, Lincoln University in Jefferson City and St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley, Davis' mother, Annie Washington of Portageville, said.

Davis went on to receive a master's degree from the University of Oklahoma and worked as a police officer in the Columbia, Mo., area, family members said.

In Washington, Davis helped out at women's shelters, her daughter said. She also worked to get disadvantaged African-American children into ROTC programs, to encourage them to pursue educational opportunities.

That push for education was especially evident in her own family. Thomas, in her third year of dental school at Howard University, said her mother paid her rent and bills and helped take care of Kennedy — anything she could do to make school easier for her.

In the Army, she was active in a mentoring organization of African-American officers that worked to develop other minority officers, Thomas said.

"She tried to save everybody, help everybody," Annie Washington said. "She didn't want anybody lacking for anything."

Davis also left behind a son, Damien Thomas, who most recently was a contractor in Kuwait, family members said.