‘They (turtles) have survived everything that’s happened on this planet except for man’

Chula Vista resident Phil Golden didn’t own a single turtle until he was 32; then he bought his first turtle and then another and another. Counting birthday turtles and adopted turtles, he quickly went from one to 20. He’s owned three-toed box turtles, a peach-colored South American water turtle and a 3-inch Chinese golden head turtle. Forced by illness to give up most of them, he’s now content to paint them. Turtle lovers can find him at Kobey’s Swap Meet on Saturdays, where he sells the paintings to benefit the San Diego Turtle and Tortoise Society. Golden was interviewed by Times staff writer G. Jeanette Avent and photographed by Bob Grieser.

My first experience with turtles was when I was a little boy in Kansas. As kids we grew up building tree forts and playing with turtles.

The ornate box turtle is the state reptile, and we had turtles all over. But, as an adult, I got my first turtle eight years ago. I quickly went from one to 20.

When I was living in Mission Hills, everybody knew I was the turtle man. I was getting turtles from everywhere.

One time a neighbor just brought a turtle in a box, rang the door bell and just left it there. It was walking down the street, somebody saw it and brought it to me.

I’ve had turtles from 5 to 50 years old. The smallest, a Chinese golden head, was about 3 inches across. The largest I had was a South American water turtle about 14 inches across. He was a beautiful, beautiful turtle with coral colors all over the skin. The skin was all peach and pinks.

A pet shop up in Washington had brought him in. I got him through a person up there who would visit pet shops, and if he saw a turtle that wasn’t cared for properly, he’d buy it. The turtle was really sick when he got it.

Turtles require a lot of care. It took him about a month to get it real healthy, and he contacted me through the turtle club.

I also had a Chinese golden head that I could call and he would run to me.

People just wouldn’t believe me, but I’d go out in the back yard, and I’d yell his name, which was Butterworth, and he would look up and find me and run to my foot. He’d get on my foot and look up at me. There was no reward involved. I would just pick him up and talk to him.

I’d put him down and walk to another part of the yard and do the same thing, and he’d run to where I was.

It wasn’t just a fluke. I used to carry him on my shoulder with one hand, and he’d always have one arm up like he was waving. He was my favorite turtle in the world, but he met his demise by a neighbor’s dog.

Sometimes you get a temperamental one. I had one that would only eat popcorn for about a month, and I decided that wasn’t a balanced diet so I starved her off popcorn.

I put all the food out there she should have. She was a Florida box, very temperamental and very melodramatic I’d have to say.

She was supposed to have fresh fruit and vegetables grated up and sometimes some smelt and some Science Diet dog food for a balance of minerals and vitamins.

I was having popcorn, and I gave her some and that was it. She wouldn’t eat anything else.

It was scary. I thought she was going to starve and fall over any minute. But one day she finally ate and got over her little problem.

I had a Gulf Coast box, a male, a large one which was a gift for a birthday one year. He was sort of the John Wayne of turtles. All the female turtles followed him around everywhere he went.

He was this light tan color and all the females were this darker color. He always had females climbing all over him, which is really unusual. Usually the males are aggressive. He was sort of a stud, and they all liked him.

I didn’t start painting turtles until about 2 years ago. When I was just out of the Army in 1972, I started out taking art classes at Palomar College.

But I left art for a while and went into show business. I worked at the Starlight and the Globe theaters, and I did that for 10 years. I sang, danced and acted, and I also taught.

I was also the resident choreographer at the Old Town Opera House, now United States International University’s theater.

Then, about 2 1/2 years ago, I began studying art with Peter Everly in Ocean Beach. The first painting, a sunset at Puget Sound, took me seven months. But I learned almost all the techniques that I’ve used since.

The first turtle I painted was a desert tortoise in a desert scene.

Since then I’ve taken paintings and prints of my paintings to the swap meet just to bring funds into the club.

Kobey’s donated a space for us as a nonprofit organization, and last year I raised about $2,000 for the club.

The main thrust of the organization is public education.

It’s very hard to kill a turtle. They’ve outlived the dinosaurs. They have survived everything that’s happened on this planet except for man.

Now many turtles are endangered because of pollution, mistreatment, crossing over the boundaries of the desert tortoise with four wheelers, sewage in the ocean, (drift) net fishing, and markets for their shells.

I feel the best way I can get involved is this way. I would like to be recognized as an artist who specializes in endangered species and who does realistic work.