William Davis Northcutt IV's Obituary
William Davis Northcutt IV “Davis” was born on June 19, 1958, in Fairbanks in the United States Territory of Alaska (Alaska was admitted to the Union on January 3, 1959) to Dr. William Davis Northcutt III “W.D.” and Susanne Sandberg Northcutt. Mom and Dad were stationed on the DEW Line (Distant Early Warning Line) at Ladd Airforce Base, Fairbanks, Alaska after dental school and their wedding. Duty was rather light; other than straightening teeth for the G.I.s and keeping the Russian bombers at bay, there was not much to do so Davis showing up was not unusual. The family moved back to Longview in late 1959, and Dad went into orthodontic practice with Dr. Wade Clendenen. Davis had a typical childhood in Longview during the 1960’s & 70’s. He graduated from the School for Little Children at the First United Methodist Church downtown and moved on to Mozelle Johnston Elementary School. During this time, he showed a budding interest and talent in art which would become a foundational theme of his life. After elementary school, he went on to Forest Park Junior High School. Davis LOVED to tell stories of his adventures in Junior High along with his carpool friends, Tori Kirkpatrick and Bobby Sample. This was the golden age of Forest Park Junior High when the school was run by Principal Mr. Raymond Wray and Vice Principal Mr. Morris and staffed by such memorable teachers as Lady B. Taylor for Texas History who cried annually with the re-telling of The Story Of The Alamo, Mamie Brown for Social Studies and her admonition of “GET IT OFF THE ROOF!” to settle the class down, Mr. Bonds and Mr. Meisenheimer. He spent much of time on Sunshine Square and New Forest with Robbie and the Houston Family, as well as swimming at Rose & Kenneth Kirkpatrick’s house with Gail, Kim and Tori. Since he had a June birthday, most of his early birthday parties were swimming at Pinecrest Country Club with the usual Old Longview suspects such as Leo Butter, Sam Smead, Robbie Houston, Edward Crain, Hank Smith, Charles Rader and George Thomas. After ninth grade, Davis moved to Longview High School in the old building downtown for tenth grade. He then transferred to Dallas and finished eleventh and twelfth grade at Saint Marks School of Texas in the Class of 1976. During his high school years at Saint Marks, he had taken an interest in architecture and worked during the summers for well-known local architect Rudy Bresie. He entered college at The University of The South at Sewanee, Tennessee for his freshman year. He transferred for his sophomore year to Texas A & M University to major in Environmental Design (Architecture). He graduated from Texas A & M and went to work for CRS, a major multi-national engineering and design firm in Houston, where he helped design buildings in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. He then moved to Galveston and worked for Trinity Episcopal Church, where he published their church cookbook and created all of the illustrations. Back in Houston, he had several different occupations culminating at the University of Houston’s prestigious Sarah Campbell Blaffer Gallery art museum. Aside from working at the art museum, he also won First Prize out of 483 artists submitting 1,166 works of art at the 1992 Houston Area Exhibition, also held at The Blaffer Gallery. Davis participated in various group exhibitions that included the University of Houston’s Sarah Campbell Blaffer Gallery (1992 and 1996); Longview Museum of Fine Arts (1993); Foster-Freeman Gallery, San Antonio (1994); Sally Sprout Gallery, Houston (1995); and the Lawndale Art Center, Houston (1997). His work was also included in “Transcending Limits: Moving Beyond Mainstream and Margin”, a 1999 traveling exhibition organized by the Texas Fine Arts Association, Austin. His latest passion was taking art and silk-screening classes at The Glassell School of Art at The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. Davis had a lifelong passion for art and architecture and felt most comfortable in and around art lovers and modern art in particular. Davis’ other passion was coin collecting that he practiced with his dear friends George Thomas and Horst Seeger. He could spend hours reviewing coin magazines and studying the coin market. All during his life, Davis cherished the innumerable New Year’s Eve and Fourth of July celebrations that he spent at Holly Tree Farm in Winona, Texas with all of the Shelmire family and especially our family tropical vacations with the Shelmire, Wynne and Rowland families.
Davis was predeceased by his father William Davis Northcutt III and mother Susanne Sandberg Northcutt, as well as his favorite furry, ever faithful, four legged hound “Bean”. He is survived by his sister Frances Northcutt Abernathy, her husband Craig Logan Abernathy, their children Amelia Compton Abernathy, Susannah Searcy Abernathy and Logan Northcutt Abernathy, his brother Walter Ridley Northcutt, his wife Cappucine Copeland Northcutt, their children Nathaniel Graham Northcutt and William Savage Northcutt, and his brother LeGrande Sandberg Northcutt. The family would like to recognize his very dear friend Tim Duyka for all his assistance in Houston during this very difficult time.
A Celebration of Davis’ Life will be held on Saturday, May 10, 2025 from 11:00 am – 1:00 pm at the Longview Museum of Fine Arts located at 215 East Tyler Street, Longview, Texas 75601. In Lieu of flowers, please consider making memorials to The Longview Museum of Fine Arts in Davis’ memory.
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