By OSWALD T. BROWN
(One of the features that I introduced during my four-plus years as Press, Cultural Affairs and Information Manager at The Bahamas Embassy was a regular of articles on Bahamians living abroad entitled BAHAMIANS IN THE DIASPORA. Preparations are now being made for scheduled events to celebrate the 45th anniversary of The Bahamas’ attainment of independence, and I thought this would be an appropriate time to rerun the BAHAMIANS IN THE DIASPORA feature on Nicanor E. (Nic) Davidson that was first published on the Embassy’s website November 4, 2015. As President of the Bahamian-American Association of the Washington Metropolitan Area, Mr. Davidson is once again actively involved the preparations being made for this year’s independence anniversary picnic.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — One of the highlights of the Bahamas independence anniversary celebrations in the Washington, D.C., area is a picnic held for the past several years on the spacious grounds of the United States Coast Guard Base in Alexandria, Virginia.
Organized by a committee headed by Mrs. Paulette Zonicle, Bahamas Consul General to Washington, D.C., the independence celebrations generally also include a reception and a church service, but the event that most Bahamians in the Washington, D.C. area diaspora really look forward to and attend in huge numbers is the picnic.
The fact that it is held on the grounds of a U.S. military establishment has nothing to with a cooperative agreement between the United States and The Bahamas, but rather because Nicanor E. Davidson and Bernard Colebrook, two of the principal organizers of the picnic, are former members of the United States Military.
Davidson, who is President of the Bahamian-American Association of the Washington Metropolitan Area, is a former U.S. Army Aviator, and he gives credit to Colebrook, a fellow Bahamian and retired United States Marine, for getting him involved in The Bahamas independence celebrations.
“I had sought to get involved in Bahamian cultural activities ever since being assigned to the DC area with the military in 1994,” Davidson said in a recent interview. “I met Bernie at a Bahamian Independence event back in the 90s and have always seen him as trying to do something to lift up The Bahamas in this area. He is absolutely tireless in these efforts.”
Davidson was born in Nassau “in a tiny house in Rupert Dean Lane, between Meadow Street and Ferguson Street, in Bain Town and attended Woodcock Primary School. At age 11, he moved with his family to Greenwich, Connecticut in 1971, and joined the US Army in September 1978, retiring officially after 21 years, on February 1, 2000.
“My first five years in the Army were as a UH-1 helicopter mechanic and crewmember,” Davidson recalls. “My remaining years were served in various capacities as a dual-rated Army aviator, flying both rotary-wing (helicopters) and fixed-wing (airplanes) platforms. My helicopter platforms were the TH-55 (Hughes 300) trainer and Bell UH-1 (Huey). My airplane platforms were the U-21 and C-12 (King Air 100 and 200, respectively) and later the C-21 (Learjet 35) and C-20 (Gulfstream III).”
Davidson’s responsibilities in the Army included “numerous safety and operational roles, such as Instructor Pilot, Operations Officer, and post-maintenance functional test pilot.”
Noting that he amassed almost 6000 hours of accident-free flying while on active duty, Davidson added, “I also performed numerous administrative collateral duties. These included training, security, and investigative responsibilities.”
Davidson received a Bachelor of Science degree in Professional Aeronautics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University while on active duty and after leaving the Army, he was “a commercial airline pilot for a bit over five years, serving as a crewmember, respectively on the Boeing 727, the Boeing 737 and finally McDonnell Douglas MD-80.”
“In total, I have been in aviation for approximately 37 years and have flown over 8500 hours,” he said. “I joined the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in October 2006, as a Transportation Industry Analyst in the Office of Rulemaking. In August of 2008, I joined the Aircraft Certification Service as an Aviation Safety Analyst, later becoming an Aviation Safety Inspector. I currently work in the Airport Compliance Division as an Airport Compliance Specialist.”
Asked why he decided to become involved with the Bahamian-American Association, Davidson said, “To the best of my knowledge, there have been numerous efforts, some more successful than others, at creating a sustained social organization for Bahamians and friends. Our efforts this time began about two years ago and we are making some headway. We wish to create a self-sustaining organization that regularly unites Bahamians and friends in the DC area for myriad social events, and also an organization that develops a great outreach potential in order to assist those in need.”
In addition to Colebrook, other key members of the association’s leadership are Khandra Sears, Darin Swain, Lincoln Marshall, and “a few others that we can always count on,” Davidson said. “With respect to the Independence celebrations we have always tried as a group to support the local offices with those celebrations as best we can. I would like to recognize Chris Gardiner in DC, who helped greatly with our initial paperwork.”
Suggesting that all Bahamians living in the Washington Metropolitan area should join the Association because “there is strength in numbers,” Davidson added, “There are people with all kinds of talents out there, and we want those people to help us make this a great organization. We have a website under construction at BAAWMA.COM. We also have an email address at BahamiamAmericanWMA@gmail.com and would love to hear from anyone who would like to help us grow the organization.”
Davidson currently lives in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife Mia. They have two adult children, Andrew (26) and Elisa (24), both college graduates.
Oswald T. Brown is the Press, Cultural Affairs and Information Manager with The Bahamas Embassy in Washington, D.C
NOTE: Since this article was first released in November of 2015, Nic Davidson has resumed his career as a commercial airline pilot.
