A Remembrance of Mary Daly Herrin (1931-2024)

 Ever the Family Hostess for her Generation by Glenn N. Holliman

Mary Daly Herrin, vibrant, energetic with a smile and laughter, was a constant in my family’s life and in the lives of many cousins and her aunts and uncles.

At age five, I remember the night in 1951 when Mary said her wedding vows with Elliot Clayton Herrin, Jr. in Irondale, Alabama.

My family lived in nearby Trussville from 1950 until 1952, as my father taught at Shades Valley High School. Later he accepted a position with the Social Security Administration, first in Birmingham and in time offices in Tennessee, South Carolina, and in the early 1960s in Gadsden, Alabama.

Why do I remember that evening in 1951 so clearly? A song was playing on the radio —
“Goodnight Irene, Goodnight Irene, I will see you in my dreams.”  To this day it echoes in my mind, just as do the many times Mary and her family welcomed us — the out‑of‑state relatives — into their homes.

Mary (1931–2024) was the firstborn child of Robert W. Daly, Sr. (1901-1959) and his young bride, Vena Holliman (1909-1990), both of Irondale, Alabama. She grew up surrounded by family stories and generations who valued being together. Her father, a Woodlawn, Alabama banker, often took Mary and the family on fishing trips to Florida in the 1930s—memories that became part of family lore.

Clearwater, Florida in 1934, left to right Virginia Holliman Cornelius, Mary, Vena and Bishop Holliman, this writer's father.

     

This 1939 photograph is of Mary, her grandmother Pearl, Charles H. Ferrell and Carolyn Ferrell Tatum. Pearl was 51 years old. 

       Mary poses in 1943 with her grandfather Ulyss in Irondale.  The family chicken house is pictured in the background.

                                          Mary, Vena and Mary's brother, Robert W. Daly, Jr. (1943-2024)

 

 Mary's 1951 wedding photograph announcing her engagement to Elliot Clayton Herrin, Jr. a classmate at Howard College.  Mary and E.C.’s 1951 wedding marked the beginning of a life built around hospitality and family ties. They made their homes in Irondale, and over the years it became a gathering place for generations.

In 1953, Mary posed with her grandmother Pearl (1888-1955) on the left, her mother Vena and sitting holding Mary's first borne Elliot Clayton Herrin, III. (1953-2021) is Lula Hocutt Caine (1861-1957).  Known in the family as Grandma Caine, her father died at the Civil War Battle of Stones River in Murfreesboro, Tennessee in 1863. Mary and E.C. would welcome three more children into their family - Linda Herrin Bradley, Suzanne Herrin Wilder and David Herrin.  

Mary and E.C. Open their Home for a Summer Reunion in 1968

The summer of 1968 at Mary and E.C.'s home in Irondale, the former home of Robert and Vena Daly.  Mary is sitting next to E.C. who is holding David Herrin on his lap. The writer is standing on the 3rd row far left, just back from passing the Army physical. Six months later I would be in Vietnam.  Mary, Vena, Motie and Loudell all wrote to me while I was overseas, just as they had done for my father, Bishop, standing far right, third row, during World War II. Pictured are Ralph Holliman and Walter Cornelius, also WWII overseas veterans. E.C. served in the Navy during the Cold War.

1970, Mary and daughter Linda Herrin Bradley at a 1970 reunion in Irondale. In the 2000s, following in the footsteps of her parents Linda has opened her home on numerous occasions for reunions of the extended families.

The 1982 Reunion 

What Mary and E.C. did in 1982 and numerous other times, was to welcome the clan to their home in Irondale, Alabama.  Mary is sitting on the back left in a white blouse with a red blaze on her shoulder. E.C., standing in the back row far left, must be wondering what his water bill would be as sixty-three relatives came for lunch!  

A Historical Note:

Every one pictured in these group photographs was descended from or in a relationship with a descendant of Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman, both born in Fayette County, Alabama in the 1880s, one generation after the Civil War. Both had limited educations, Ulyss only finishing the sixth grade.  They entered life before electric lights, automobiles, airplanes and radios. Ulyss's father, John Thomas Holliman (1844-1930), fought in seven battles in the Confederate Army.  None in this direct paternal Holliman line, since the arrival in Jamestown, Virginia of Christopher Hollyman in 1650 (1618-1692), ever owned enslaved persons.  The ancestors of Ulyss migrated from Virginia to the Carolinas arriving in Alabama in 1836, occupying land recently occupied by the Choctaw nation before their removal to what is now Oklahoma.

The 1996 Reunion

We were older, children had grown up, new children were present and for some marriage partners were different. Sadly the angel Gabriel had blown his horn for several aunts and uncles. Mary is middle left, now with gray hair.  For some of us, the hairs on our heads were fewer. Mary was still there—her smile just as warm. She remained the steady center, holding us together.

 Mary and Bishop Holliman (1919-2018), her uncle but more like a brother in 2011, again at Mary and E.C.'s home in Irondale.  

Mary (1931-2024) and E.C. Herrin (1930-2015)

They generously opened their hearts and homes to the descendants of the Holliman, Daly and Herrin families for which their many relatives are grateful.

A Visit Between Two Storms, Part 2

by Glenn N. Holliman

In this article, the story of the trip my two sisters, Becky and Alice, and I took to Alabama visiting cousins and old home places continues.  This excursion occurred the week before the explosion of the Covid 19 virus upon the American nation.  If we had waited another week, we would have had to cancel the visit.

On March 9, 2020 we rendezvoused with many cousins at the Whistle Stop Cafe in Irondale, the town where the seven children of Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman, came of age.  The seven children, now all passed away, are in order of birth Melton, Vena, Euhal, Loudell, Bishop, Virginia and Ralph.

While we cousins indulged in good southern comfort food and not yet knowing to practice social distancing, I snapped this picture of those who still live in the Birmingham area and who could make the lunch.

  Moving clockwise beginning from the left is Clayton Herrin, son of E.C. and Mary Daly Herrin, and grandson of Robert W. and Vena Holliman Daly.  Next is Alice Holliman Murphy, daughter of Bishop and Geraldine Stansbery Holliman.  Behind Alice are Charles and Nancy Ferrell.  Charles is the son of Charles and Loudelle Holliman Ferrell.  John Daly, son of Bob and Carol Daly and grandson of Robert W. and Vena Daly, peeks around Nancy, Charles' wife.  In the red jacket is David Herrin, Clayton's brother.

At the far end in black is my sister, Becky Holliman Payne and seated next to her is Mary Daly Herrin, mother of Clayton and David, and daughter of Robert W. and Vena Daly.  The gentleman is green is Wally Allen, husband of Tommie Holliman Allen.  The last two ladies are Jean Holliman and Tommie Holliman Allen, daughters of Euhal and Edna Holliman.

One of the pleasant ironies of this extended lunch was knowing we were sitting in the part of the restaurant that had been the hardware store owned by Robert W. and George Daly which operated from 1944 to 1960.

The Whistle Stop, formally the Irondale Cafe had been run in the 1930s by Bess Fortenberry.  The Holliman children were forbidden to eat there as the cafe sold beer!  It was Bess's niece, Fanny Flag, who inspired by the cafe and setting, wrote Fried Green Tomatoes which became a famous movie.  

Under later ownership, the cafe expanded into the Daly Hardware building and changed its name to the Whistle Stop and yes, serves fried green tomatoes as an entree.

Below from Mary Daly Herrin's scrapbook are some mementos from the business her father and uncle ran.

After catching up on family comings and goings, and discussing some hint of the coming pandemic (Charles was touching elbows rather than shaking hands, a foreshadowing of the coming turbulence), my sisters and I bade our cherished relatives goodbye, warmly remembering our father, aunts and uncles and many earlier times together.  

More on our visit in the next blog. - GNH

An Alabama Family in World War II, Part 43

by Glenn N. Holliman

World War II Ends for an Alabama Family

In July 1944, the American Army broke out of the hedgerows of Normandy, France and after heavy fighting by September pushed the Nazi war machine beyond Paris and almost to the German border.  Then the rains began, foul weather that engulfed my Uncle Melton Holliman’s medical unit near the Colmar Pocket close to the Rhine River. 

As I wrote in my last World War II article, Melton, age 36, sleeping rough with an evacuation unit, became ill, high blood pressure, and was shipped back to England.  His condition was so serious he returned to the States, his time in Europe over.  By the summer of 1945, he was discharged and returned to his career as a pharmaceutical salesman in Mobile, Alabama.

My father, Bishop Holliman, left Boston in August 1944 escorting what must have been the slowest convoy in the North Atlantic, a 35 day crossing.  His destroyer, the Barker, a World War I ship of 900 tons, delivered a flotilla of tankers and oil barges into Falmount, England.  There the ship pushed off into the English Channel and almost engaged in gunfire with three English destroyers who the captain had mistaken for German E-Boats.  No harm done except some lost sleep.

After a few days patrolling off Cherbourne, France the ship escorted empty transports back to Falmouth and then to Belfast, Ireland.  There my father rented a bicycle and pedaled into the Irish county side.  Back on convoy duty, his ship sailed to the Azores.  There for two days he went ashore, played some baseball and swan in clear blue seas.  Another three weeks of escort duty brought my father back to Boston.

While my father plowed the ocean that summer and autumn, my Uncle Ralph Holliman crossed the Channel from his English posting, along with his air corp transport unit.  He had the best duty of all three brothers, stationed not far from Paris for the rest of the European War. A clerk, he made rank of sergeant, and even obtained an 8 day leave to England.

Left, Ralph at a desk, not in France, but years later at work.  He climbed the corporate ladder quickly moving his family eleven times in twelve years.

Below, Ralph wrote from France describing V-E Day in Paris!

With the surrenders of Germany and Japan in spring and summer of 1945, Ralph came home the summer of 1945 to his young wife, Motie and entered Birmingham-Southern College on the G.I. bill.  When their first child, Pamala, came along, he left school and went to work for American Bakeries, venturing into a long and lucrative career with that national company.


Left, Motie, Ralph's young wife and my mother, Gerry Stansberry Holliman, meeting for the first time in February 1945 in Irondale.  They were two of the three war brides of World War II, the other being Virginia Holliman Cornelius.

Back to my father – He had reconnected with Miss Geraldine Stansberry of Philadelphia in June 1944.  The stars must have been in alignment.  They had met in September 1942 and while sparks flew for my future mother, not so with my father.  She wrote him often; he seldom replied evidently not ready to settle down.  The summer of 1944 was different.  He fell in love, deeply and by October 1944 when docked for a month in Boston, invited her up and they spent time together. 

February 1945, Bishop finally received leave to go home to Irondale, Alabama (after sailing to the Caribbean and serving as a target for US submarines firing practice torpedoes). Gerry came down from Knoxville, Tennessee (her new home where she lived with her sister as her mother had died the year before). She stayed for a week with the Robert Daly’s, their home adjacent to the Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman, my grandparents at 2300 N. 3^rd Street.  Melton, now stationed at Foster Army Hospital, Jackson, Mississippi and on light duty, took leave also and the two brothers had a reunion. 

Left, my parents in February 1945.



Right in February 1945 in Irondale, left to right, Robert Daly, Bishop Holliman in uniform and his father, Ulyss Holliman.

The visit was a success, and four months later (after another cruise to Ireland and back), my parents married June 26, 1945 in Philadelphia where his ship was docked.  The Germans had surrendered on May 8^th, and on August 15^th, the Japanese did also.  By early September my father, along with thousands of others, received his discharge.  He had served 3 years and 10 months, most of the time as a radioman listening for German U-Boats.    His most dangerous service had been at the 1943 invasion of Sicily when his ship was bombed by the Luftwaffe.

Right a summer day in 1945 in Irondale, Alabama before my father, Bishop Holliman, far right was discharged from the Navy.  Left to right, Vena Daly, Patti Holliman, Virginia Holliman Cornelius, Bob Daly, Gerry Holliman and her new husband, Bishop.

Christmas 1945, a brother-in-law (below) was still overseas, my Aunt Virginia Holliman’s high school beau and since 1942 husband, Walter Cornelius. He shipped to the Central Pacific in 1945, and spent months on the island of Saipan.  He would not get home until 1946.  Virginia (right) had given birth to their first daughter, Carol, in 1944.

It would be the Christmas of 1946 before all were home to enjoy a grand family reunion.  World War II was over, the veterans found jobs and the Baby Boomer generation soon followed!

My father all his life remained modest about his long service in the Navy.  Yet he and my uncles, indeed the whole family sacrificed as did millions of others that first half of the 1940s.  

Happily the Holliman family of Irondale, Alabama suffered no deaths or physical wounds.  But the world, their world, would never be the same.  

An Alabama Family in World War II, Part 38

by Glenn N, Holliman

Letters of my Grandmother, Fall 1943

In August 1943, Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman, ages 59 and 55, of Irondale, Alabama saw their oldest son, Melton P. Holliman, b 1908, inducted in the U.S. Army. Two young sons, Bishop, b. 1919, U. S. Navy, and Ralph, b. 1925, U.S. Army, had been called to the colors earlier.  Now the fourth and last son, Euhal, b. 1914, and father of three pre-school children, had received notice.  

Son-in-law, Walter Cornelius was in training, but there are fewer letters to trace his war as he was state-side until 1945. His wife, Virginia, b 1922, was able to travel with him to several of his postings.

Left, Walter and Virginia, in California, a young couple a long way from Alabama.

Pearl wrote from September to November 1943 numerous letters.  Exerts are below.

“Well, I guess Euhal will have to go in a few months.  It looks like all the men will go up to (age) #38.  We are doing our part as best we can and looking forward to you boys all coming home soon.  May the Lord bless and keep you. Love, Mother H.

We had a bond rally in Irondale last nite and us women are to go from house to house to sell bonds.”

Above, forty years after the war, 1985, beginning with Vena on the far left, Loudelle, Bishop, Ralph, Virginia, Ida and Euhal, closest to the camera.

My father, Bishop, had just returned from the Mediterranean where his destroyer provided vital shell fire at the invasion beach in Gela, Sicily and experienced a Luftwaffe attack at Palermo.  The USS Butler returned to Brooklyn Navy Yard, and Bishop was sent for refresher code training at Cisco Bay, Maine before transfer to the USS Barker later that month.  June 1943 until June 1945, he would spend approximately 75% of his time at sea escorting convoys.

A great deal of my grandmother’s letters had to do with sharing changing address of her sons in training and assignments.  That month of September 1943, she wrote Bishop:

“Ida (Melton’s wife) just called; she had just got a wire.  Melton is in Abilene, Texas at Camp Barkley.  He came through Irondale and Birmingham last Friday.  Too bad all of you have to come so close to home and can’t stop.  Be sure and write to him.  He will be lonely.”

Right, Melton in autumn, 1943, training as a medic in the Army.

Bishop, Ralph and Melton, all three, at one time during the war traveled by train through Irondale within sight of their grandmother Lula Caine’s house.

"Bishop called Saturday night, and Motie (Ralph’s wife) got a telegram from Ralph, both in New York (Bishop and Ralph).  Wouldn’t it be grand if they could have run into each other…Jr. Caine (a nephew of Pearl’s) came home last week.  He really is a good-looking man now, weight 174 pd.  He had not been home in over two years.

Ira and Patsy (Melton’s 1-year old daughter) came out last week.  Patsy is some smart girl.  Virginia, Mary and Vena say the new boy (Bob Daly, b. 10/1943) looks like me.  

I tell them it does not.  You know you can’t tell who they look like when so young.”

Right, 1952, Ulyss, Pearl and Bishop

Pearl wrote in October about Ralph who had been stationed in Reno, Nevada:

“We finally heard from Ralph.  He is somewhere in England. Motie got a cable from him.  I sure was glad to hear from him….They have just announced London was bombed last night and a dance hall bombed with lots of soldiers and girls killed. Ralph wrote he had not been to London yet so he must be close by. So he needs our prayers.

I hope he will never go near a dance hall.  If bombs don’t fall. They are loaded with sin bombs.”

My grandmother’s language is disjointed, but she believed dancing was sinful.  Her education ended in the 8^th grade in a rural Fayette County, Alabama school.  Raised Methodist. she and Ulyss joined the evangelical Christian Alliance Gospel Tabernacle in Birmingham in the mid-1930s.  Their adult children remained Methodist or Baptist, and a mild rift occurred between the generations.

Left, Ulyss Holliman, second from the right, in a Birmingham News photograph, ca 1950, an elder in the Gospel Tabernacle Church.

Next posting, letters from Bishop at sea, Ralph in England and Melton in Texas.