Don Thomlinson’s Painting of the USS DAVIDSON DE-1045
Provided by Bill Showalter – Davidson Shipmate

 

This painting was painted for me by a friend I worked with in the 70’s. His name was Don Thomlinson. He was in the merchant marines during WWII, and later worked in the tuna fleet here in San Diego. He started painting as a hobby, and painted what he knew best, ships. Although it was never an occupation with him, he became fairly well known in the maritime industry and I believe he had some major commissions. I asked him to do two paintings for me, one of the USS Currituck AV7, my first ship, and another of the Davidson. Instead, he painted only the one with the Davidson as the main subject. If you close, you can see the Currituck in the background. He charged me $3,000 for the painting and then gave it to me because of all the times we would sit around listening to his recordings of bagpipe music, drinking beer and telling sea stories (he had some great ones). I have the painting hanging in my office partly because of my memories of my time on the Davidson, and partly because of my memories of Don. He told me that whenever I looked at the painting to remember how well we functioned together as a crew and as a part of the fleet. Don died in the mid 80’s.

Bill Showalter

Back to Stories Menu