Lee Anderson
When I first met Dave in 1964 I was a young Navy sailor recently assigned to Patrol Squadron 48 in San Diego, and I always addressed him as “Mister Hollowell”, as he was an Officer and I was Enlisted. Soon after I joined the Squadron we were deployed to the Philippines and Mr. Hollowell was the Maintenance Officer and I worked as an electronics technician in the Avionics Shop, so he was basically my boss. He was well liked in the Squadron and did a great job in seeing that all of the seaplanes in the Squadron were kept in flying condition.
I left the Squadron in 1966. It was 35 years later that we met again at a Squadron reunion in San Diego. It was so good to see him once again. Dave attended many following reunions and when we visited San Diego, Kathy and I always looked him up. We often had dinner at the Navy Fleet Reserve meeting hall, which was just around the corner from his house in Imperial Beach. He always invited us to his house, and we were impressed by his collections of books of Naval history and his many models of Naval aircraft. He shared with us photos of his wife and told us many stories of their happy times together. He missed her greatly.
The last time we saw Dave was at the VP-48 Plaque dedication at the Mt. Soledad National Veterans Memorial on July 19, 2014. It was an emotional time for all of us.
We will miss him greatly. He was a great American who loved his Country and enjoyed life to the fullest.
Fair Winds and Following Seas, Mister Hollowell.
