David Henry Wilson’s obituary is not online. His father’s is and was published in The Sedalia Democrat June 8, 1973. This lists David Henry’s immediate family.
The family home at 1403 E. Third is now a grassy vacant lot. Google Earth shows it’s only about a hundred feet from railroad tracks. Trains still rumble through Sedalia, but many fewer than in the past. The quality of sleep so near to the tracks must not have been good. All that clanking, banging and whistling may have been music to Missouri Pacific engineer, David Senior, but it may not have been a lullaby for the rest of the clan.
The lot of the Wilson family home as seen on Google Earth.
David H. Wilson’s art is indeed “a feast for the eyes.” It’s rhythmic, clean colored, harmonious, cheerful and upbeat. The artist’s life was anything but. A search of the archives of The Sedalia Democrat reveals minor run-ins with the law, but nothing dramatic and nothing social or positive. Except for the photo of Wilson standing by his Ragtime picture in 1974, there are only bare bones public records, which reveal nothing of his personality and nothing of his artistic motivations. He passed through seven decades of life in Sedalia, Missouri, unnoticed, unheralded and unrewarded.
The following is a scant chronology from the Democrat:
July 12, 1942, “Local Board Names Thirty for Induction”: “Leave July 23 For Jefferson Barracks St. Louis.” Along with twelve other inductees is “David Henry Wilson, 3027, 1403 East Third.”
August 18, 1947. “Fine Arts Awards”
Under “Oil Paintings by Amateurs: 3. David H. Wilson, Sedalia.”
September 11, 1964. “David Wilson, 1403 East Third, charged with being intoxicated and disturbing the peace on complaint of D. E. Wilson, pleaded guilty and was given a suspended 30-day jail sentence.”
November 10, 1972. “The following persons were charged with disorderly conduct: … David H. Wilson, 1403 E. Third, fined $10.”
August 10, 1973. “Cash, paintings taken from home. David Wilson, 1403 East Third, reported $60 in cash and two paintings of undetermined value were stolen from his home early Friday morning. Wilson told police that a woman was visiting his home and after she left the items were missing.”
July 30, 1975. “Disorderly conduct: David Wilson, 1403 East Third, fined $50.”
Today there are few remnants of the Wilson home place by the tracks.
Doug Freed, an educator and artist whose work is well-represented in public and private collections, gave us his impressions of David Wilson:
I met David Wilson when I first arrived in Sedalia in late 1968. I really didn’t know him very well but respected his paintings. The work’ s content was often religious but not entirely. He was definitely influenced by Picasso and Leger. His work was meticulously crafted. I don’t think he had any formal training but don’t know for sure. He was a real character but was in the throes of alcoholism. He would call me as well as others and threaten to jump in front of the train which passed through town on a regular sequence if I didn’t buy him a six pack of beer. He used this ploy several times with me, my wife, as well as numerous other people that knew him.
John Hawkins said his father, Allen L. Hawkins, mayor of Sedalia (1978 to 1981) and David were “close friends”:
He (Wilson) was quite a character, nice guy. He used to call my dad sometimes when he was out to the bar and needed a ride home. … We’d have to stop at a liquor store on the way home. I’d drink a beer or two. Don’t think he had a job. … David used to go to our church quite a bit, to counsel with our priest (Father Lusley?)—counseled Wilson. Calvary Episcopal Church) at Broadway and Ohio. He was counseling there. He drank a little bit you know. … I was always intrigued by his paintings. I don’t know if it was sand that he used in them. … He was a starving artist for sure. I don’t know if he ever had a vehicle or not, because he walked everywhere. The Democrat had written an article and interviewed him. He wore glasses. … Kind of like a Picasso style. He done quite a few of Scott Joplin. … He would voice his opinion. He was definitely vocal. I think he was more of a Republican or a conservative as for political. It didn’t bother him to give his opinion. Bars—the Pacific, Interlude, and Leo’s Budweiser bar was on Main Street.
