Remembering Doug Davidson

Remembering Doug Davidson

My friend Doug passed away last evening (May 16, 2016). He was in his late 70s, he might have been eighty. But what does that matter? Perhaps we have seen each other only three or four times in the past 55 years. But I remember him, our mutual friends, and our time as youth.

We were not the so-called “Baby Boomers.” Our births preceded the arbitrary designation for boomers, but in some way we were part of that generation. Our home town was Norfolk, Virginia – a U.S. Navy town – and our parents were the ones who endured, and for some participated in, World War II.

A goodly dozen of us were close friends in the 1950s. I was on the younger side. My older sister Cynthia, and Nancy, Lois, Kathy, Mary Faye, Frances, Bob, Paul, Fred, and Doug were the “seniors.” What was our glue? Doug may not have been the oldest ,but he was the tallest of the group and he was our upbeat, natural leader. He possessed the simple charm of happiness. He also sported a “butch” haircut. The rest of us guys had “crew cuts” and once Elvis came on the scene our hair amazingly grew longer.

Doug was employed. If I remember correctly he worked for a supply company named Empire. He always had a car – usually a fairly large vehicle. He probably upgraded his wheels every 12 months. I remember quite vividly when he bought a dazzling, new, red and white Mercury Phaeton. That would have been in 1956. WOW, what a car! The announcement for that amazing people carrier was made on the Ed Sullivan Show. Ah, I remember it well. But, back to the glue.

Doug was a natural leader even though at times he seemed shy. But we all shared in another glue, Norview Methodist Church. Sometime during those years we became Norview United Methodist Church. It was MYF or the Methodist Youth Fellowship that brought us together for the years of our youth. Almost every Sunday evening or late Sunday afternoon we would return to the church building for our MYF meetings. Afterwards we would drive down Sewells Point Road toward Little Creek Road, the point where those two roads intersected, and continued our fellowship by sharing a meal at Shoney’s.

Most everyone, well perhaps I was the prime person who, wanted to ride to Shoney’s in Doug’s Phaeton. He always obliged.

In our time the many Methodist Churches in Norfolk would gather their young people for weekend meetings and songfests. One gathering I continue to recall occurred at Park Place Methodist Church. I could not believe the number of young people gathered to fellowship with one another and to pray and to sing. I remember singing the “Alleluia Chorus.” (I worked hard on memorizing the words to the Alleluia Chorus). What a grand sound of voices it was. Ah, I remember it well.

So, I sit here writing this short essay with several senses attacking me. One reaction to Doug’s death is the immediacy of his passing to Nancy and her family, and to the rest of us. His days from health to illness to death were rapid. 

Another reaction to Doug's death is the speed of which the years of our time have passed. Time has too quickly been moving from its beginning to its end. When I think of Douglas Davidson in my mind I capture his smiling face and his friendly disposition. His is a great loss, but I must also think about Doug and friends through they eyes of God, if I may be so daring.

God made us free to love Him. We are also free not to love Him. So in life we choose.

God gave us the Church. (We celebrated the birth of the Church just this past Sunday – Pentecost). Our particular church gave us MYF and in that fellowship we learned to love God by loving our friends in a Godly relationship. The Trinitarian God - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit - is the perfect relationship. We knew that and we learned to live in that relationship throughout our lives.

My memory of Doug's life, the life he actually lived, is that his was a witness to the life in Christ that he and his forever-youthful friends shared and continue to share. Rest in Peace, Doug!

Douglas E. Davidson Obituary