Rena Picou Trevathan
July 12, 2011
Jeanne R. Lefort
July 14, 2011
Former Houma mayor, businessman, civic contributor and decorated veteran Charles Henry Davidson, who died on July 7 at the age of 90, is being remembered this week by those that knew him as family man and friend who impacted unknown numbers by this efforts and activities.
Funeral services were held Monday at St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church for Davidson, who was remembered for his trademark walking cane and brilliant smile conducting volunteer work at the Military Museum on Barrow Street, participating in Terrebonne Parish Library Board meetings or puttering around the family hardware business his grandfather, A.F. Davidson, founded in 1885.
Born to Culmeada “Meada” Bienvenu Davidson and Percival R. Davidson on Jan. 25, 1921, Charles Davidson represented a third generation to operate the family business. In 1963, he moved it from its Main Street home of 78 years to its present location on Tunnel Boulevard where Davidson Hardware is currently in its fifth generation of operation.
Like many of his age, Davidson was an active military man during World War II and served as a 2nd Lieutenant and pilot for the U.S. Army Air Corps.
His most significant military venture took place on April 16, 1944 while flying a low level raid on the Japanese-occupied Indonesian island of Hollandia. Making a return flight to Gusap Airfield at Paupa New Guinea, his Douglas A-20G-20 ran short on fuel and forced a crash landing on an area island near Amaimon.
Davidson and his gunner, Sgt. John McKenna of Youngstown, Ohio, survived the crash and were rescued by searchers the following day.
The aircraft was abandoned and for the next four decades became buried under vegetative jungle growth. In 1984, the Hell’N Pelican, which Davidson nicknamed the aircraft, was salvaged. Restoration was completed in 1996, at which time Davidson and his wife were invited to make a trip to Paupa New Guinea for a ceremony that entered the battle machine into the Paupa New Guinea National Museum.
After being discharged from military service, Davidson returned to Houma and joined the family business. In the early 1960s he became involved in local politics, first being elected to the school board and later the city board of aldermen.
In 1969, then Houma Mayor G. Leslie Broussard died in office. Davidson was selected by fellow aldermen to fill the mayoral position, according to former fellow alderman and longtime friend Peter Bourgeois. Davidson was then elected to two full terms as mayor.
When Terrebonne Parish and the City of Houma consolidated their governments in 1984, Davidson served on the new parish council. Davidson also became active in efforts to develop and expand a viable public library system. He remained an active member of the library board until his death and a board room at the main library of Terrebonne Parish bears his name.
“Charlie [Davidson], [current Terrebonne Parish President] Michel Claudet and I worked to pass that [1998, 25 cent] library tax that enabled us to build the best library in the state of Louisiana and probably the best library system in the country,” Bourgeois said. “We got enough money to upgrade all the libraries in the parish.”
Among his various areas of involvement, Davidson was a member of the 4th Degree Knights of Columbus, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Benevolent Order of Elks and a volunteer to the Regional Military Museum Foundation.
Along with sitting on the Terrebonne Parish Library Board of Control, Davidson was a trustee for the Louisiana Library Association for 40 years. “He was an outstanding guy and quite a gentleman,” said fellow library board member and Terrebonne Parish School Board President L.P. Bordelon. “It was a privilege knowing him.”
“Mr. Davidson was a true friend and someone I always admired,” Claudet said. “He did great service to our city and our parish. He was always a gentleman. I always considered him a diplomat to Terrebonne Parish and a statesman.”
Davidson is survived by his wife of 68 years, Thelma; daughter Gwendolyn Ann Talbot and her husband William J. “Billy” Talbot II; two grandsons, William J. “W.J.” Talbot III and wife Monica, and Charles “Chuck” Talbot; one great grandson, William J. Talbot IV; numerous nieces, nephews and their families.
He was preceded in death by his parents and brother Percival R. Davidson Jr.
“Everybody liked Charles Davidson,” Bourgeois said. “He was just walking outside in the yard and doing what he liked when he dropped. The good Lord was good to him. I’d like to go that way.”
Charles Davidson is pictured with the control wheel from an A-20G Hell’N Pelican he was forced to crash land on a Pacific island following a combat mission during World War II. COURTESY PHOTO
