Pat Harrol Holmes' Obituary
LONGVIEW ? Pat Harrol Holmes, age 84, was born in a farmhouse without water or electricity on August 8, 1927, outside of Bettie in Upshur County, Texas. He died September 3, 2011, in Longview, of complications due to congestive heart failure. Prior to his diagnosis, he went to the office every business day, part of an interesting life that focused largely on the benefit of others.
He coached many hot seasons of Little League baseball, had lunch and dinner with President Richard Nixon at his presidential library, played countless rounds of golf, married his high school sweetheart, watched Kirk Gibson of the Los Angeles Dodgers hit the game-winning home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series, played a mean game of 42 dominoes with his family and mother-in-law, Fay and enjoyed a cup of black coffee and his newspaper most mornings before the sun rose.
He was a supporter of Longview sports, particularly women's basketball, helping several obtain college scholarships. Although he never wrote an E-mail, he was a prolific writer, handwriting letters and stories on yellow legal pads. And he loved to talk to people.
He was a member of the downtown Kiwanis Club for more than 50 years. He was also a cook, known for baking his "Mama Holmes" pound cakes and delivering them to the sick and grieving. He also served the community as president of the Longview Chamber of Commerce and as chairman of the organization now known as the Longview Economic Development Corp. He and his wife, Dorothy, were also selected as Longview's Entrepreneur Couple of the Year.
He played a significant role in the establishment of Longview Bank & Trust now Texas Bank & Trust, working with then president Norman P. Taylor. And he loved eating raw oysters and all the trimmings at his friend Johnny Cace's restaurant.
He invested in his three children?Patty, Brett and Patrick?and their 11 children. He witnessed social change in the South during his lifetime. He was always confused by why folks demanded that blacks enter from the back door, or couldn't have a meal at the dinner table or couldn't use a white's bathroom. He thought it was nonsense and did his best to make sure everyone felt welcome and equal in his home.
He told his two boys bedtime stories?and lots of them?romanticized stories of the shenanigans of growing up on a farm in the Piney Woods of East Texas during the Great Depression.
He was quarterback of Union Hill High's six-man football team, winning the state of Texas regional finals there was no state final due to war. He felt the threat of World War II, and, rather than wait to be drafted, he enlisted in the United States Navy. He graduated from boot camp at the naval base in San Diego and was assigned to a Seattle-based U.S. submarine chaser.
He worked his way through college, attending Baylor and East Texas Baptist University, and graduated from the Southwest Graduate School of Banking at SMU in Dallas. He was a devoted and loving husband, and always supported his daughter and two sons, encouraging them to maximize the talents in which God gave them.
He started his career in the 1950s with Commercial Credit and later served as vice president of Longview Bank & Trust in the 1960s. He became partners with Legrande Northcutt in 1969, forming Northcutt & Holmes, an insurance company. He later incorporated as Pat Holmes Insurance, a business he sold to Gans & Smith in 1996.
He was a member of First Baptist Church of Longview and had a strong faith in God. He was the eighth of eight children born to Henry and Leland Holmes.
He was preceded in death by his parents and siblings, including his fraternal twin, Dan Holmes of Gilmer.
He will be lovingly remembered by his wife of 62 years, Dorothy; his daughter, Patty Jenkins and son-in-law, Dr. John C. Jenkins, of Austin, and their children, Cassidy, Speight, Allison and Brett Patrick; his son, Brett of Austin, and his children, Chase, Quinn and Walker; and his son, Patrick and daughter-in-law, Kim Parisey Holmes, of Atlanta, Georgia, and their children, Jordan, Madison, Hudson and Allison; and six great-grandchildren, including Dalton, Isabella, Priscilla, Grace, Heidi and Judge.
In lieu of flowers, the family is accepting donations to the Pat Holmes Park fund, P.O. Box 701, Austin, TX 78767, that will help support a Little League baseball field in Longview.
Visitation will be from 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, September 6, 2011, at Rader Funeral Home in Longview. Services will be noon Wednesday, September 7, 2011, at First Baptist Church of Longview. He will be interred in Gilmer.
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