Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman and their Descendants

The Golden Summers of the 1930s, Part X
by H. Bishop Holliman 2011

Off the Beach!


We resume our story told by Bishop Holliman as the Daly-Hollimans huddled, crowded, in their automobiles attempting to ride out the gathering storm of 1936 in Panama City, Florida.

In the photograph taken on another date, Robert W. Daly, Sr., leader of the Daly-Holliman vacations to Florida in the 1930s, walks the beach with his only daughter, Mary Daly Herrin.  They look smartly dressed for beach-combing!

"Immediately, there was a tap on the car window and a man in uniform told us to leave the beach area at once, to drive inland, that the hurricane was ready to strike in full force, that we had to leave now!  He spoke with great authority so we did not meander.  Robert turned the car around and we headed out, lining up behind Daddy's car (Ulyss Holliman) and Melton's (Holliman), and away we all went!!  


We headed inland as the man told us to do.


Ida Holliman, Melton Holliman's wife, perches on the Chevrolet coupe that drove part of the family off the beach in 1936.


Mama (Pearl Caine Holliman), Daddy, Ralph (Holliman, the younger brother), and Hoyt and Vivian Bryant were in Daddy's car, a 1933 four door Chevrolet with Holyt driving and leading the way.  Right behind them drove Melton in a Chevrolet coupe, with Ida and Earl, and then came Robert, Vena (Holliman Daly), Mary, Virginia (Holliman Cornelius)  and me, going we knew not where!


Just a few miles down the beach high way Daddy's car came to a complete stop!  I guess all the excitement had caused it to flood out, as we say.  Any way, it would not go any farther.  What to do on a dark and stormy night, marooned on the side of the Gulf, trying to reach higher, safer and dryer ground?  We did the only thing we could do.  All those in Daddy's car piled into Robert's car with our party.  That meant six adults, two teen-agers and a five year old.  And off we went, leaving Daddy's car by itself, there next to the Gulf, at the mercy of the wind, the rain and ocean waves."

The 1933 Chevrolet of Ulyss Holliman stalled in the storm. Below is an advertisement for a two door version.  Note the price and that the models are formally dressed, somewhat as were Robert and Mary Daly in the above photograph!

Next the road house of the refugees!

Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman and their Descendants

The Golden Summers of the 1930s, Part IX
by H. Bishop Holliman 2011

The Hurricane Approaches...

"Our place at Panama City was on the same street, a few cabins up from where all the others were staying.  The highway ran between our place and the beach, a very convenient location.  One day all of us were deep-sea fishing and some of us got sick.  I don't remember catching many fish, but what I do remember is the hurricane that came up a few days later.  It was a defining moment of our 1936 trip to Florida and an event we would remember and talk about the rest of our lives.

Young Bishop Holliman on vacation in Florida, wearing a white tie?

Before the hurricane came ashore, Bishop and other families members fished along the Panama City inlets.  

We read in the paper that a strong storm was approaching the Gulf Coast that summer of 1936, but we did not pay much attention to the warning.  Remember, we did not have ready access to a radio so the paper was all we had to rely on.  The morning of the storm dawned cloudy and very windy.  We were not able to stay on the beach due to the stinging sand of Panama City that was whipped up by the raging wind.  It went on like that all day, so we sat and waited for nightfall, hoping things would be better tomorrow.

The Holliman Clan and Company remained in their cabin a few doors closer to the beach and across the street from us  About 8 o'clock that night we thought we felt the house shake, so Robert Daly, Sr. herded us out to this car, and we sat, thinking the wind would let up soon.  I don't know why we felt the car would be a safer place than the house.  But about 9 o'clock we noticed a big stir in the house down the street and we wondered what was going on.  We soon found out."


Next the escape from the beach!

Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman and their Descendants

The Passing of Virginia Holliman Cornelius, 1922 – 2011

by Glenn N. Holliman, a nephew

On November 3, 2011, after a long decline, my Aunt Virginia left this life in  Austin, Texas.  In the blog last summer (see older articles section), with the help of her daughters, Carol and Susan, we were able to share part of her story with the larger family.  Her daughters had written and published a thoughtful biography of her on her 80^th birthday in 2002, which they kindly let me reproduce.

Since the spring of 2011 with the writings of my father, Bishop Holliman, numerous cousins and family memorabilia and photographs, I have been preparing and posting articles on a generation of a Southern family that was deeply affected by the Great Depression and World War II.  


Recently, I was able to visit and spend time with my surviving uncle, Ralph Holliman, now of Gulf Shores, Alabama.  Later  in this space, I will be sharing some of his story with his great nieces and nephews who have been born long after World War II and who will experience most of their lives in the 21^st Century.

                                           Virginia Holliman Cornelius, above, in 1964.

With the death of Virginia, my last aunt has passed away on my Father’s side of the family.  Three girls were born to Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman, each unique and beautiful in different ways.  Vena Holliman Daly Buckheit (1910 - 1990) married in 1928 to Robert Daly, Sr., a banker and fabulous mentor to Bishop, Virginia and Ralph Holliman during their growing up in Irondale, Alabama.  Vena was full of grace and poise, dignified and soft spoken and a lovely Southern lady who brought charm and calm to the family.

Above left Vena Holliman Daly Bucheit (1910 – 1990), Bishop Holliman (1919) and Loudelle Ferrell (1914 – 1996) at the 1970 Irondale, Alabama reunion.

Loudelle Holliman Ferrell (1914 – 1996), quiet, graceful, dignified, thoughtful, she married an up and coming Methodist minister, Charles H. Ferrell, in 1935.  A graduate of Birmingham-Southern and Yale Divinity School, this well-educated man served as another strong role model for the three youngest Holliman children of that generation.  By 1935, the two older brothers, Melton (1908 – 1958) and Euhal Holliman (1912 – 1989), had already married and left the parental home.

              Above center is Virginia and to the left is her future husband, Walter Cornelius behind the type writer at Shades Cahaba High School.  Third from the right may be Ralph Holliman, Virginia's younger brother.


At Shades Cahaba High School, Class of 1941, Virginia seems to have won every award and held every office possible.  When one reviews The Owl, the school yearbook, she leaps out of many pages, sitting center in almost all the group photos, obviously the leader, the poised, already accomplished person readying to come of age in a world still dominated by the male gender. 

In early winter of 1942, Virginia and Walter married at the home of Robert and Vena Daly in Irondale, Alabama.  War interrupted that marriage, with Walter in 1943 entering the Army Air Corp and after training in the U.S., was stationed in Saipan.  He was there as a ground crew person when the B-29 aircraft took off from nearby Tinian Island and dropped the atomic bombs that effectively ended the Pacific War.

Virginia and Walter at one of his training stations in the United States before assignment to the Pacific.

During the War, Virginia took ‘temporary’ employment at her brother-in-law Robert Daly’s bank in Woodlawn, Alabama and remained in banking while giving birth in 1945 to Nancy Carol Cornelius Morton and in 1951 to Susan Cornelius Williams.  


After the War using the G.I. Bill, Walter became an accomplished lawyer. Walter also was a talented guitar player and often led his own band. The couple would raise their daughters to maturity, before the war time marriage ended in divorce in the early 1970s. Walter died in 2006.

A rare, heavy snow in Birmingham in 1964 with Virginia, Walter and Carol Cornelius.

For Virginia, the employment opportunity of banking during World War II became a career, a pioneering enterprise for a woman of her generation.  She broke many ‘glass ceilings’ in a male-dominated profession, and served as a role model for the females in her extended family and no doubt, a mentor for many in financial services.  For this she was recognized in publications and by her peers. 

           Three lovely ladies, above, Carol, Susan and their mother, Virginia on a 1990s cruise. 

On November 20, 2011, members of her family gathered in Dallas, Texas to honor Virginia’s life and accomplishments.  In spite of her tremendous career, I suspect she would say that her greatest accomplishments were the daughters, grandchildren and great grandchildren that gathered with other family members to celebrate a life well-lived.

For the record, I insert the Birmingham News obituary published November 7 and 8, 2011.

CORNELIUS, VIRGINIA H. Virginia H. Cornelius, of Birmingham, AL, passed from this life and into the presence of her Lord and Savior on 11/3/2011 at the age of 89. She was born in Irondale, AL, on 2/28/1922. Virginia graduated from Shades Cahaba High School and attended Samford University and LSU. She retired as Sr. VP of AmSouth Bank (now Regions Bank) and was the first woman to hold this position. Virginia is still remembered as the "First Lady of AmSouth". Her civic activities included: President Homewood Chamber of Commerce and Secretary for the Board of Trustees at Samford University. Virginia was published in the book, "You Too Can Be an Executive". Boo Boo, as her grandchildren called her, loved life and until she went into that "long goodbye of Alzheimer's", spent time with her family and friends, traveling, visiting, and babysitting her grandchildren. Virginia was preceded in death by her grandson, Eric Blomstran and five brothers and sisters. She will be remembered as a wonderful Christian woman who never hid her light and always strived to be the best in everything that she undertook. Virginia was and will continue to be a tremendous inspiration to all of us who had the wonderful privilege of knowing and loving her. She is survived her daughters, Carol C. Morton of San Antonio, TX, and Susan Williams of Cedar Park, TX, two brothers, 6 grandchildren and 8 great grandchildren. Virginia resided in San Antonio, TX, at the time of her death. The memorial service for her will be conducted at: Fellowship Bible Church, 9330 N. Central Expressway, Dallas, TX, at 4:00 p.m., November 20, 2011. RSVP to: (512) 626-3559. In lieu of flowers, a tax deductible donation in memory of Virginia Cornelius may be made to one of the following: Barabbas Ministries, P.O. Box 461531, San Antonio, TX 78246-1531 or Fellowship Bible Church, 9330 N. Central Expressway, Dallas, TX 75231.

As one of nineteen first cousins of the seven children of Ulyss and Pearl Holliman, I marvel at the lives of my aunts and uncles.  They were for our times “The Greatest Generation”.  GNH

Comments, opinions and content are by the writer solely who welcomes critique and feedback from family members. 

Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman and their Descendants

The Golden Summers of the 1930s, Part VIII
by H. Bishop Holliman 2011

The Summer of 1936 and the Great Storm....

Above along a pier in Clearwater, Florida, 1936, left to right, Virginia Holliman Cornelius, Mary Daly Herrin, Vena Holliman Daly and Bishop Holliman.


"I don't recall now how our 1936 trip came about.  Stewart  Button had taken a church in Knoxville, Tennessee earlier in the year, but Virginia and I were still available.  Ralph, I guess, was still considered too young to go.  I would enter my last year of high school that fall, so this would be my last hurrah.  That year we went further south, all the way to Clearwater, Florida and points in between.  Robert had now acquired a new 1936 black two-door Plymouth, so now we would be travelling in style.

Below a restored 1936 four door Plymouth touring car.


In Clearwater, we did not find the beach as white and sandy as those at Fort Walton and Panama City, so that took some of the shine off our stay there.  Instead of a 'tourist cabin', we found a fully furnished home used mainly in the winter by a wealthy owner, so that made our stay more enjoyable.  It was a few blocks from the beach and backed up to the bay.  I have no idea what the rent was, but I am sure more than we had paid at Fort Walton.  One day we drove down to Sarasota and over to St. Petersburg, and another time Robert rented a small boat and he and I went out into the bay to fish and got caught in a squall that came up quickly.  We had left Vena, Mary and Virginia home to worry about us.

It had been planned early on that Mama, Daddy and Ralph would drive down to Panama City Beach during our two week stay.  Soon Melton and Ida Holliman decided to join them, along with Ida's nephew, Earl Burton.  Also, accompanying Mama, Daddy and Ralph would be Hoyt and Vivian Bryant, close family friends of Melton's age, who had lived next door in years past.  After a week at Clearwater, we decided we would join them, so we drove up to Panama City, found a cabin where they were and settled down, we thought, for a fun time with friends and family.  On the way, we stopped at a resort similar to Silver Springs called Waukulla Springs and took a boat ride."

Next the hurricane comes....

Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman and their Descendants

The Golden Summers of the 1930s, Part VII
by H. Bishop Holliman 2011

The Summer of 1935....


"I had completed my first year of high school at Shades Cahaba and would be 16 the coming December.  Still too young to get a job, even if one had been available and even if I had been so inclined to pursue it!  Robert always had yard work to do and he gave us loose change...which he always had...for Saturday afternoon chores.  Also, one winter I earned some pennies for starting the fire each Sunday in the heater in the Presbyterian church....not enough to pay my way to Florida however.

When the summer of 1935 rolled around, the Dalys began to talk of another trip to the beach, and I guess Virginia and I pressured them to include us in their plans, though I do not remember any of that now.  Mr. Button evidently was included also in the planning because he, along with Virginia and me, were in the Model A Ford on a Monday morning in August when we set out again for Florida.

Robert had received some brochures from the Mississippi Gulf that attracted him to that area.  Also, Loudelle and Charles had spent their honeymoon at the "The Whitehouse", a luxury hotel in Biloxi in June, so maybe that helped lure him there instead of Florida.

Our first stop was in Tuscaloosa to chat with Glenn Barrow, the young principal of Irondale school was was attending classes there, working on another degree.  He met us on the corner of the main street of the University and we talked for about 30 minutes.  We felt bad that he had to attend classes and were going on a beach holiday.  But such was life.  He was a fine man, and we were glad to spend time with him.

Glenn Barrow, right,  served as a teacher and principal.  After his death, during the war, Bishop Holliman named his first child in 1946 after this thoughtful educator.


We went on to Mississippi, arriving in Gulf Port about sun down, and were we ever disappointed!  We saw immediately that the beaches along that coast did not measure up to those at Fort Walton and other Florida beaches.  We spent the night there, but the next morning all of us agreed that we had rather go back to Fort Walton even if it ate up another day of our vacation.  So, east went, along the Gulf Coast, through Mobile and Pensacola arriving late that afternoon in Fort Walton, in a cabin close to where were the previous summer.  We felt at home there, and content to be back there for the next 10 to 12 days.

Our facilities and daily activities were much like those of the previous summer.  Vena and Robert did the cooking.  Mr. Button was a 'fun' person, and I guess he helped with dish washing, maybe.  Virginia continued to look after Mary, and to this day, I can't think of anything I did except act as a good fishing buddy and surf swimmer.  However it was not long before we had company!

                                                 Mary Daly Herrin on the beach in Florida.

The 1935 tourist court or cabins would not, perhaps, be enticing to the 21st Century generation of Hollimans, Dalys, Herrins, Corneliuses and Ferrells!

Over the past year we had done such a good job talking up the pleasures of a beach vacation....so much so that Mama and Daddy (Pearl Caine and Ulyss Holliman) decided to join us at Fort Walton for a few days.  I don't know how they managed to pull it off...I am sure Daddy had to suffer a loss of wages for a week...but they did it!  I have forgotten how long they stayed...less than a week.  They brought with them my brothers, Ralph and Euhal and Euhal's girl friend, Anna Grace Bagley.  They found a cabin near us and we all enjoyed a few days of fishing and surfing.  All of us got along fine.  This was Daddy's first real vacation and their first time ever to splurge.  Daddy, born 1884 in Fayette, Alabama, was 51 that summer.

Below, Stewart Button and young Bishop Holliman survey their 'catches of the day' at Fort Walton, Florida.

We returned home from Fort Walton on a Saturday in August, the other members having been back for several days.  Our stay at the beach had been uneventful after their departure...lots of fishing and swimming. This may seem a mundane thing to mention now, but I remember our lunch on the way back was a sandwich shop in south Alabama.  The sandwiches were 20 cents each...a humongous sum, we thought!"

Next posting, the Great Storm of 1936....

Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman and their Descendants

The Golden Summers of the 1930s, Part VI
by H. Bishop Holliman 2011

The Summer of 1934 continued...


"Vena and Robert Daly did all the cooking, cleaning and whatever else had to be done.  Looking back now from this distance, you have to wonder how they could have endured such a life style, even just for two weeks.  Imagine, sharing the bath with a non relative, cooking for all of us all the time, hot humid weather and no attractions other than the beach and the fishing pier!  I don't know how they did it but they did!



Above, Fort Waldon Beach, Florida in the late 1930s or early 1940s when a boardwalk and pier were the attractions, plus of course a beautiful beach and the Gulf of Mexico.


As far as I know, we all got along fine.  Virginia and I did as we were told, and I never heard a cross word between Vena, Robert and Mr. Button.  We had a nice little cabin (in the terminology of the times).  I don't recall the number of bedrooms or other amenities and I have no idea how much it cost - very little, I am sure by today's standards.  After our first night's rest, Mary said she slept on a log.  We thought that was funny and I wrote home and told them about it!

                           The luxury cabin of the Daly's and Hollimans in the middle 1930s!

Most of our time at Fort Walton was spent in fishing, and I guess we went in the surf everyday also.  The bridge across the bay to the beach was our fishing perch, and we caught more fish than I thought were in the ocean.  Fish of all kinds - one afternoon Robert reeled in a stingray, something we had never heard of and we learned it was very poisonous.  All of us were captivated by our catch each day, and Robert arranged to 'pickle' some of them in formaldehyde in jars and bring them back home to show off his piscatorial ability.  He drove over to Pensacola to get the pickle juice and bottles.  For many years after, his pickled fish were stored in his garage up on the Irondale hill.  They were still there when I went into the Navy in November 1941.

                   Mary Daly Herrin and her baby sitter and Virginia Holliman Cornelius in Florida.

Such was our first trip to Florida - 1934.  We arrived home on a Saturday afternoon, having been gone about 13 days.  I remember being startled by how much the grass and the garden had grown during our absence.  I am sure we all went to church the next day because we would have wanted to tell everyone we had been to Florida, how many fish we caught, and to show off our tans!  We made several pictures - that are still in existence of our beach escapade of 1934.  One of Robert fishing in the surf I thought was so good I sent it to the Birmingham News, but they never saw fit to print it."

A fine day's worth of Florida fishing - Robert Daly and Stewart Button

Another Golden Summer in the next post....

Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman and their Descendants

The Golden Summers of the 1930s, Part V
by H. Bishop Holliman 2011

Below, Virginia Holliman Cornelius, Mary Daly Herrin, Vena Holliman Daly, Robert W. Daly, Sr. and H. Bishop Holliman at Fort Walden, Florida, 1934. Stewart Button must have taken the picture.

"I have never known why Vena and Robert felt it appropriate to take me along on their trip to Florida in 1934, the first of my 'three Golden Summers'.  I can understand why they took Virginia along - Mary was just three years old, so Virginia was needed to baby sit her.  But there was no earthly reason why they let me tag along, except out of the goodness of their hearts.  Also, Mr. Button was included in this, the first of their many escapades to Florida.  I don't recall any conversations that led up to the decision to take me with them.

Almost 5 million Model A Fords were built between 1927 and 1931.  As Henry Ford said, one could have it in any color one wanted, as long as it was black! This is a plush model.  The 1934 Daly car was more prosaic! GNH

We left Irondale, Alabama on a Monday morning in July at about 3 am, riding in the Model A Ford.  I have always remembered how exciting it was to be awakened that early and to head off to Florida, the first time I was to be out of Alabama and to view the ocean.  So six of us - three adults, two young teenagers and one three year old - were stacked in the two door car.  Our suit cases were slung over the hood on each side and may have even been tied to the fender opposite the driver's side.  Remember...there was no such thing as air conditioning, no radio and no trunk to store luggage.  Only two-lane roads, no fancy rest stops and very few eating places along the way.  By today's standards it was murder!  But we did not know any better.   We were headed to Florida, and besides, gas was no more than 20 cents a gallon.

Our first stop was in Clanton, Alabama where we had breakfast at the Dixie Cafe on the main street.  The cost was $2.50 for the six of us....ham and eggs and all the trimmings.  I guess Robert paid for Mr. Button's share.  Virginia and I had no money at all.  I thought the price of our meal was astronomical, and I recall writing back home and telling Mama and Daddy how much we had already spent.  We stopped in Dothan, Alabama to visit a Daly cousin, and we may have had lunch there.

I remember Virginia and I always wanting to visit places we had read about in our Alabama geography and history books, but the adults did not cotton to that idea so we never stopped.  Our goal was to reach Panama City.  We may have spent the night at a 'tourist court', reaching the ocean the next day; I am not sure now.

Young Robert Daly and wife, Vena, enjoy the beach in Florida.  Their kindness opened up a larger view of the world to younger brothers and sister.  

Whatever the day was, I remember how 'awed' I was when I first cast my eyes on the huge body of water that was Panama City Bay.  I guess I had seen Lake Purdy, but it was not like that at all!  The next day, I was even more 'awed', when we reached the beach at Fort Walton, Florida, a fairly new resort west toward Pensacola.  There we settled for the next twelve days in a one-bath cabin, an oil cook stove, no radio.  Air conditioning had not been heard of nor television.  There were no near-by eating places, no movie houses nor other entertainment.  But we were in Florida, and the beach was a couple of miles away, over the bridge that connected the town to the beach, and we thought it was pretty nice."

Next posting, more amazing adventures of a small town American family in the 1930s....