The Passing of Clayton Herrin, 1953-2021

 by Glenn N. Holliman

He was born Elliott Clayton Herrin III, the eldest child of E.C. and Mary Daly Herrin of Irondale, Alabama, February 1953.  After several years of declining health, Clayton passed away the morning of August 27, 2021, age 68.  These are a few pictures in my family album of Clayton and others through the years.

Five Generations in 1953

When he was three months old, he had his picture taken at his great grandmother's home in Irondale.  Pearl Caine Holliman, 1887-1955, is on the far left.  In the dark dress is Clayton's grandmother, Vena Holliman Daly, 1909-1990, standing next to her daughter, Mary Daly Herrin, b. 1931.  Holding the new generation is the great, great grandmother, Lula Hocutt Caine, 1861-1957.

Later that year the Herrin/Daly family came to visit our family in Johnson City, Tennessee.  I was 7 years old and remember Clayton as a baby, nestled by Mary.  Unfortunately no  photographs were taken.

A baby sister, Linda, came along in 1956.  This Christmas picture is probably from 1962,

Clayton graduated from Shades Valley High School in 1971.  Below reflecting the hair styles of the era, he sits with his mother, Mary, at Becky Holliman's wedding December 31, 1971.  Becky is the daughter of Bishop Holliman, Mary's uncle.

Also attending that party a half century ago were siblings, Suzanne

 and David Herrin. 

And then there was Clayton's 21st birthday in 1974,

 wearing a snazzy bow tie!

In 1989 another birthday party for his Grandmother Vena surrounded by Daly cousins and his siblings.

Though the decades Clayton matriculated at Montevalo and Samford Universities and was a banker before health issues slowed him up.  He married Phylis Thoni of Birmingham in 1975.  Tragically, they lost an infant child.  Elliott Clayton Herrin IV survives, an expert in the mechanics of the entertainment industry. 

Clayton was affable, kind, interested in trains and family history and a great help to his parents as they aged.  After my retirement, I was able to get back to Birmingham more often to enjoy visits with all my cousins.  Clayton once showed my father, Bishop, and me around Irondale to see how it had changed or in some cases had not changed.  

  

With his mother, Mary, Clayton waves goodbye after a visit of my father and me.

I shall miss Clayton, and I am sure I am not the only one to feel that way.

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

A Gathering at Mary Daly Herrin's Home

by Glenn N. Holliman

Several weeks ago, my father, Bishop Holliman, b. December 17, 1919, in Irondale, Alabama, returned to his childhood home to visit his niece, Mary Daly Herrin.  Dad now lives in Avilla, Indiana, just north of Fort Wayne.  That is the childhood home of his wife, Ellen Parks Cox Holliman. They have been married for sixteen years.

While I posted photographs that Mary's son David had emailed me, David's sister, Linda Herrin Bradley sent several more.  Taken together, these deserve a more permanent place on this blog.

On the left, right to left, Ellen, Bishop, Patti Holliman Hairston and Linda Herrin Bradley. 

Patti is the daughter of Melton (1908-1958) and Ida Hughes Holliman (1905-1995) and Linda, the daughter of  E.C. (1930-2015) and Mary Daly Herrin. Mary is far right in the right picture.


Patti and Mary are first cousins, both with numerous grandchildren. Mary, a matriarch of the extended family, is the daughter of Robert W. and Vena Holliman Daly. She is the first born grandchild of Ulyss (1884-1965) and Pearl Caine Holliman (1888-1955). Ulyss and Pearl were born in Fayette County, Alabama, married there in 1906, farmed and around 1917 moved to Irondale, Alabama.

Irondale was a growing suburb of Birmingham, a city then exploding in population due to its steel industry and World War I. Ulyss, who had wood working experience, went to work for the Birmingham Electric Company which ran the street car lines.  The trolleys were then wood frame with wooden benches.  In 1921, a large family house was constructed at 2300 3rd Avenue North in Irondale sans painting and running water. There tw0 children were born and seven grew to adulthood.  This writer in 1946 spent the first two weeks of his life in the house with Grandmother Holliman teaching my mother, Geraldine Stansbery Holliman Feick (1923-2015) how to be take care of a wiggly, loud infant.

The day before the above pictures were taken, Ralph Holliman (b 1924) and his wife, Laura, living in Gulf Shores, Alabama drove up to Birmingham for the reunion.  Bishop and Ralph are pictured below.  The ladies left to right are Ellen, Bishop's wife, Mary and Laura Mills Holliman, Ralph's wife.

In the picture below, Mary's two sons - David (b 1964), left, and Clayton Herrin (b 1953), far right, join their great uncles in group pose.

Bishop and Ralph are the two surviving children of Ulyss and Pearl who had seven children between 1908 and 1924.  The children who have passed away are Melton, Vena (1909-1990), Euhal (1912-1989), Loudelle (1914-1998) and Virginia (1922-2011).

Writers have called the generation of these seven children 'The Greatest Generation' because they survived the Great Depression, fought World War II and helped build the largest economy in the world.  To all my aunts and uncles, I tip my hat and thank them for raising the 18 grandchildren of Ulyss and Pearl!

E.C. Herrin, Jr., a Celebration in Words

by Glenn N. Holliman

Alabama and this family lost a good man last week.  Elliott Clayton (E.C.) Herrin, Jr. (1930-2015) who married my first cousin, Mary Daly in 1951, served his community, church and family as would become a Southern gentlemen.  He died of complications of heart disease and aging.

In 2010, with my retirement, I was able to sit down with Mary and E.C. in their home, and discuss family history, picking their memories of their growing up in a different Alabama, and learning more about Irondale, my aunts and uncles and their own stories. Later I posted an article on E.C. at http://hollimanfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/, a May 16, 2011 article.

 Below, the 1951 wedding of Mary Daly and E.C.Herrin

E.C. was always kind and patient with me, perhaps because we could talk politics, books and history.  E.C. and my Father, Bishop Holliman, had a teasing relationship, kidding about this or that and bringing forth the humorous, dry humor both had in abundance.

 Left, E.C. and Bishop Holliman share a beverage and jests in 1989 while on a trip to Ireland  with Mary and Virginia Cornelius.
 



Right, E.C. in 1972 at one of many wedding receptions.

The picture below I took in 1970 at a family reunion at Mary and E.C.'s home, a home they opened countless times to Dalys, Herrins, Hollimans, Ferrells, Cornelius and other associated families.  This is one of my favorite photos of E.C., catching a bit of bemusement and wisdom in his expression.

At his funeral on April 14, 2015, his four children spoke, all eloquently - Clayton, Linda, Suzanne and David.  I will let Linda Herrin Bradley's loving biography of her Father speak for all of them.

"Daddy was an amazing man. His parents were hard workers in the 1930’s and he learned well from them. When he was 12 years old, his Mother died from breast cancer. Since Daddy had no brothers or sisters, his Father took him to live temporarily with his Mother’s sister and their 5 children, but 3 months later his Father was killed in a car accident. 

After that Daddy always worked to support himself – starting with a paper route on his bicycle, and later at Sears Roebuck as he put himself through college. He was working for TCI when they told he would be transferred to Pittsburgh, and he needed to take metallurgy classes. Daddy said if he was going back to school it would be law school, so he did. His cousin, our Aunt Lola, gave him $100 to start his tuition, because his Mother had given her $100 years before so she could go to business school. So for 5 years Daddy worked all day, then went to law school at night, with 3 children and 1 on the way. But he never complained and he loved every minute of his work, for 50 years, as a lawyer and a municipal judge.

Then in 1989, Daddy started losing his eyesight to macular degeneration. Gone were the books he so loved to read, but thankfully he had books on tape to help. Mother became his eyes – driving, reading, writing, and sitting by him as a judge – so justice truly was blind. Most people didn’t know he couldn’t see, because he managed and again, never complained. 

Mother and Daddy married 64 years ago this June, and Daddy would always say they were still trying to work it out. When Mother went to work for him in 1972, we thought divorce was eminent! But Daddy said they couldn’t divorce because they couldn’t agree on who had take the kids. Daddy would grin and say his list started with his books, hunting rifles, the dog, the car – he laughed and said we were way down on his list!

In the past few years, Daddy’s health really started to decline. But still, even to the end, he managed and he never complained. 

I used to get upset when I was growing up about whatever little stuff was happening to me, and I would tell Daddy “it’s not fair.” Daddy would always say, “I can promise you a lot of things, but I never promised you fair.” Certainly a lot of things in his life weren’t fair, but he never complained and you would never know about it.

Daddy has always been there, to encourage us, to help us learn from our mistakes, to wipe away our tears, to tell us to be careful when we would leave, and to tell us he loved us and how proud he was of us. His only regret was that his parents were not able to know us. He slept well every night – because he said he had a 'clear conscience'.  And he did." - Linda Herrin Bradley

May Mary, their children and grandchildren be comforted by the example E.C. Herrin's life has set for us all. - GNH

How a World War Changed an Alabama Family, Part 27

by Glenn N. Holliman

A World War II Train Ride and Another in 1989....

In January 1943, while waiting assignment to a radio school in Maine, my father, H. Bishop Holliman, was granted seven days leave from his destroyer, the USS Barker DD-213, then tied up in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. 

 In his 1988 hand written memoirs, he wrote of rushing to his Irondale, Alabama home by train.  Recently he expanded his story of that twenty hour train ride in which he shared a coach seat with a little girl from Brooklyn. He entitled the article 'The Girl from Brooklyn' which he sold for $25 to the Good Old Days magazine.  After decades of writing, this is his first payment ever for a published article.   You can find the expanded story in thus month's publication, the cover of which is pictured below. Not bad for a 95 year old!

 In case you can't find a copy at your newstand or on line, from his memoirs, we have this:

"One experience I recall.  In New York, a young girl and her mother were in the coach I was in.  The girl sat by me and her mother in front of us.  All the time I thought the girl was 14 or 15 (I was 23 at the time).  Just before getting to Birmingham, the girl went back to the ladies room and soon reappeared and was an 18 year old beauty.  She had passed for a child to save on fare.  She and I laughed about 'lost opportunities' and I wanted to bang my head against the side of the train."

Alas, my father also failed to obtain her phone number!  But that is my Dad....

After his leave was up, he was off to the Navy Station at Cosco Bay, Maine for five months, but that is another story.

The 1989 Excursion

My father has had always a love of trains and with the collapse of the passenger train after World war II, he had precious few times to indulge his passion.  However, in 1989 the opportunity came to travel on an excusion from Birmingham to Chattanooga.  Several of the children of his niece, Mary Daly Herrin, traveled with him. Here he sits with his great-nephew David Herrin, forty-five years after the train ride with the pretty girl from Brooklyn.

 

Clayton Herrin, brother of David, and son of E.C. and Mary Daly Herrin, took pictures from the train that day as did Mary from the ground when the train rolled through Irondale headed north.  Here are a few phtographs of that April day in 1989.

Mary Herrin took the first picture as the train roaring through Irondale.  The second picture, Clayton took from the train window looking toward the Irondale Cafe and the VFW Hall.  The store fronts of Irondale have changed a bit in the past quarter century.

Below, Bishop and his great niece and nephew, Phyllis and Clayton Herrin in April 1989.
 

 The train drives north in these two dramatic pictures.

Next posting, more of World War II and perhaps some more pictures of the Alabama family after the War.

Have questions about Holliman family history? You are invited to join the Hollyman Email List at Hollyman-Subscribe@yahoogroups.com and the Hollyman Family Facebook Page located on Facebook at "Hollyman Family". Post your questions and perhaps one of the dozens Holyman cousins on the list will have an answer. For more information contact Tina Peddie at desabla1@yahoo.com, the list and Facebook manager for Hollyman (and all our various spellings!).

There is also a massive Ancestry.com Holyman and Associated Families Tree available for review.  For an invitation to this collection of over 20,000 individuals, please write glennhistory@gmail.com.  

Also one will find additional Holliman history at http://hollimanfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/ .

I also have a collection of associated family manuscripts and research collected by the late Walt Holliman, Cecil Holliman and Rhodes Holliman.  Happy to send these materials by email and to insure their research is available.  The surnames: Alexander, Baldwin, Barham, Bass, Beall, Blakeney,  Baker, Bond, Bostick, Brewer, Bryan, Bryant, Bullock, Calvert, Carter, Champion, Chew,Cofer, Cole, Crafford, Crockett, Curtis, Dale, Daniel, Davidson, Davies, De Mallpas, Douglas, Duckett, Edwards, Edgerton, Emerson, Fitzhugh, Fowlehurst, Fox, Gains, Garrison, Gonson, Graves, Gray, Guyton, Guins, Hall, Hamby, Hawkins,Hendrix, Hill, Hogg, Holliman, Holt, Howard, Jackson, Jones, Judkins, Love, Lucas, Maget, Mansfield, Manwaring, McBee, McComas, McCurdy, McNewsome, Nicholson, Norsworthy, Noyall, O'dell, Oliver, Pearce, Peerce, Pettigrew, Petway, Pitman, Plow, Plyler, Porten, Prather, Petite, Ridgely, Riggan, Roberts, Smith, Spencer, Sprigg, Standley, Stanyard, Swan, Strother, Thompson, Thornton, Thrope, Trelawney, Turpin, Underhill, Underwood, Wallace, Walters, Weedon, Whitherspoon, Whitten,Williams,Wilmot,Wilson, Whitaker and Yerby.  These are mainly Alabama families and their ancestors from the Carolinas and Virginia. Materials vary from one page to 200. - GNH at glennhistory@gmail.com.

Visits with Cousins

by Glenn N. Holliman

A Month of Cousins...!

There are 18 living first cousins from the seven children of Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman.  During the past month, I have had the pleasure of visiting with five of them (not counting my two sisters - Becky and Alice).  So let's interrupt our Holliman 'World War II' story and share some photographs and updates on our mutual lives.

Below, Clayton Herrin, the first born great grandchild of Ulyss and Pearl Holliman, waves from his mother's Irondale, Alabama home which we visited in October.  His mother, right, is, of course, Mary Daly Herrin, the first born of the grandchildren of Ulyss and Pearl.  For over a generation the Herrin family (E.C. Herrin, Mary and now Al and Linda Herrin Bradley) have hosted family gatherings. E.C. is ailing now, and all of us have him and the family in thought and prayer.

 

 

The famous Irondale Café was the location of a meal shared in October with Jean Holliman and Tommie Holliman Allen, two of the six children of Euhal and Edna Westbrook Holliman.  Back ground in red, is yours truly, with left to right, Jean, Tommie and my sister, Alice Holliman Murphy.  In the café as one consumes fried chicken and fried green tomatoes one can see embedded in the wooden floors the indentions of counters which held merchandise in the former Daly Hardware. The Daly Hardware Store was owned by Robert W. and George Daly during the 1940s and 50s.

Below, Charles Ferrell, far right, and his wife Nancy, hosted my sister Alice and myself at their home on an October Sunday afternoon in Homewood, Alabama. Charles is the second born grandchild of Ulyss and Pearl Holliman, the first born son of Charles and Loudelle Ferrell Holliman.  He kindly shared hundreds of photos of the Ferrell and Holliman families, now scanned, and which we will be posting later in this space and at MyFamily.com.

Finally, sharing an evening in my home in Newport, Pennsylvania the past week was Dr. Robert W. Daly, Jr, right.  Just retired from his decades long position as a professor of biology from the University of North Alabama, Bob traveled north to visit his son John and his family in southeastern Pennsylvania.  While on this excursion north, Bob stopped in for the night our central Pennsylvania farm house.

It is a pleasure to reconnect with the cousins of one's youth!

Next posting, back to our story of World War II and the Holliman family....

Join your many cousins at MyFamily.com and view an expanded Holliman family tree and many files on the history of the family.  Just write to glennhistory@gmail.com for an invitation.






 

Return to Irondale 2013, Part 1

by Glenn N. Holliman


Memories of Irondale, Alabama....

January 29, 2013, H. Bishop Holliman, b. 1919, returned to his boyhood home to share at a meeting of the Irondale Historical Society his memories of the 1920s and 30s.  A crowd of 46 turned out to listen and ask questions.  Bishop was assisted in his talk by input from his childhood friend, James Pugh, a young 92.

Below, Bishop in the pale blue shirt at the front of the rooms listens to a remark by James Pugh to the back right of this photograph.  The meeting was held at the Irondale Public Library community room.  The distinguished head of flowing gray hair, back to camera in butter scotch colored sweater, belongs to Bishop's great nephew, Clayton Herrin.

Below, among the many relatives attending were back row - Wally and Tommie Holliman Allen and Jean Holliman, daughters of Euhal and Edna Holliman.  Far rear by the camera is Tommie's son, Brian, who videoed the event.  Front row is a brand new father, David Herrin, who brought his new daughter briefly to the meeting.  Next to him in reddish orange shirt is E.C. Herrin and his wife, Mary Daly Herrin, the first grand child born to Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman.

After the speech, Bishop, a young 93, signed copies of his book entitled "Memories of Irondale, Alabama, 1920s and 30s".  E.C. Herrin, back row, looks in stunned wonderment that anyone, anywhere possibly would want Bishop's autograph!  For a free electronic copy of the booklet, please write glennhistory@email.com.

Learn more about the Irondale Historical Society at www.irondalehistory.org .  Bishop Holliman is grateful to president Denise Tew Wright for their kind invitation to share a bit of Irondale memories.

Next post, more photographs of family and stories from Uncle Bishop's book!

Have questions about Holliman family history? You are invited to join the Hollyman Email List at Hollyman-Subscribe@yahoogroups.com and the Hollyman Family Facebook Page located on Facebook at "Hollyman Family". Post your questions and perhaps one of the dozens Holyman cousins on the list will have an answer. For more information contact Tina Peddie at desabla1@yahoo.com, the list and Facebook manager for Hollyman (and all our various spellings!).

Since early 2010, I have been publishing research and stories on the broad spectrum of Holliman (Holyman) family history at http://hollimanfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/ . For stories on my more immediate family since the early 20th Century, I have been posting articles since early 2011 at http://ulyssholliman.blogspot.com/ .

Let's save the past for the future! If you have photographs, letters, memorabilia or research you wish to share, please contact me directly at glennhistory@gmail.com. Several of us have an on-going program of scanning and preserving Holyman and related family records. Don't just let family's genealogical work or photographs languish unread and deteriorating in an attic. Write us please and tell us of your items. Thanks to the Internet, we are able to scan, upload to the web (with your permission) and return the materials to you. - GNH

 

 

 

My Grandmother's Wall Photographs, Part 5

by Glenn N. Holliman

In previous posts, I have been expounding on the portraits hung on the wall in my grand mother's home in Irondale, Alabama home in 1945.  They remained mounted on the wall until Pearl Caine Holliman's  death in 1955.

There was a special collage of photographs in a frame almost a yard wide and 8 inches high.  It contained 55 photographs.  Every time I visited my grandparents as a young boy, I stared and stared at the pictures of my father's family, when they were all so young.

When Grandmama Holliman died the photographic collage went first to her oldest daughter, Vena Holliman Daly (1909-1990), and while she lived in Irondale, it hung in her home.  Later it passed to her older child and first of 19 grandchildren, Mary Daly Herrin.  The large collection of Holliman family photos still hangs today over Mary's kitchen table in Irondale. Over 60 years later I still study and ponder the lives of the persons pictured.

Below approximately the first 1/3rd of the collage.

At the Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman descendants’ reunion at Al and Linda Herrin Bradley’s house in June  2012, Mary brought the collage for viewing. I took pictures of it, and later scanned them into my computer. With the help of my 93 year old father, Clayton Herrin, Patti Holliman Hairston, Ralph Holliman and others,  the persons have been identified and labeled.

It is impossible with my camera to gather the entire collage in a viewable format, so I divide the work into six pieces.  The photos are numbered.  Click on twice and the picture will enlarge.  Here we go to identify the pictures.

       1.     Carolyn Ferrell Tatum,  daughter of Charles (1907-1999) and  

             Loudelle Holliman Ferrell (1914-1996).  She resides in North Carolina.

2.     Carolyn Ferrell Tatum in 1944 in Alabama.  Her father was a United Methodist minister and the family moved often during 1940s serving churches in Goodwater, Jacksonville, Huntsville and Ensley, Alabama.  Her brothers are Charles Halford and John Melton Ferrell.

3.     Carolyn Ferrell Tatum in 1946.

4.     William Lee Caine, Lula Hocutt Caine and Martha Jane Walker Holliman (1846-1931 – wife of John Thomas Holliman, and mother of Ulyss Holliman, photo taken in Fayette, Alabama).  Left and center are William Caine (1862 - 1938) and Lula Hocutt Caine (1861-1957), the parents of Pearl Caine Holliman (1887-1955).

5.     Jerry (1940-2003) and Terry are the twins of Euhal (1912-1989) and Edna Westbrook Holliman (1916–1992).  Jerry died of heart failure while salmon fishing near his home in Alaska.  Terry resides in Arizona.

6.     Motie Chism Holliman (1925-2003) is the first wife of William Ralph Holliman (b 1924) and mother of Pamela Holliman and Kathy Holliman.  Rachel Harbour is Kathy’s daughter.

Ralph and Motie married in 1943, a month before Ralph was inducted into the U.S. Army and World War II.  He served in England and France and did not return home to see his young bride for over two years until the summer of 1945.

7.     Glenn Nelson Holliman (b 1946) in Birmingham, Alabama.  This photo was taken in 1947 at the Irondale, Alabama home of his grandparents.  The red brick Daly house is just visible in the background.  Many pictures were taken on the Holliman lawn with the Daly home in the background due to better afternoon lighting.

 

8.     Bishop and Geraldine Stansbery Holliman in June 1945 outside of Germantown Methodist Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  ‘Gerry’, a native of Bristol, Tennessee, lived in Philadelphia from 1941 to 1944, where she met an Alabama sailor on a three day pass in 1942 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.  Three years later they married.  They are the parents of Glenn Holliman, picture 7.

9.     Melton Pearson Holliman (1908-1958) was inducted into the U.S. Army in August 1943 at the age of 35.  This photo of him is at Camp Barkley in Texas where he did a grueling basic training and advanced work as a medic.  He served in France with a medical unit from July to November 1944.  His health broke, and he was sent home to serve out his duty in Jackson, Mississippi hospital as a pharmacist.  He suffered a major heart attack in 1955 and a fatal one in 1958.  He may very well have been a casualty of World War II.

10.  Bishop Holliman (b 1919) came home to Birmingham in 1945 with his new bride.  With the G.I. Bill, he finished Birmingham-Southern College and in 1947 started teaching school at Shades Cahaba Jr. High and later the new Shades Valley High School.  This picture is of him as a history and civics teacher. (Do you wonder where his son obtained his interest in family history?)

11.   Euhal Holliman looks snazzy in his cap, probably from the 1930s.  Euhal had some tough timing in his life as he left high school just as the Great Depression began.  He went to work to help pay family bills in the only job he could find at the time - a produce grocer. As his own family grew, he made food sales his career.  During his employment at various supermarkets in Gadsden and Birmingham, he was tapped by his co-workers to serve as their labor union representative.  His leadership helped to achieve living wages and benefits for Alabama grocery workers.

12.  Ralph Holliman (b 1924), looking dapper, poses in front of the Daly house in Irondale, Alabama sometime in the 1940s.  Ralph served in World War II as a clerk in an Army Air Corp unit, logging and scheduling air transport flights. He was praised for his administrative abilities during the war by his commanding officer.  V-E day found him celebrating in Paris.  After time at Birmingham-Southern College, he put his skills to work with a post-war career at American Bakeries retiring as their national vice-president for operations.

13.    Mary Daly Herrin is the daughter of Robert W. (1901-1959) and Vena Holliman Daly (1909-1990) and the first born of the 19 Holliman cousins.  This photo is of her during school days and before she met the love of her life, Elliott Clayton Herrin, whom she married in 1951.

14.   The Charles and Loudell Ferrell family – back Charles Ferrell (1907-1999) and Loudell Holliman (1914-1996), married 1935.  Left to right: Charles Halford Ferrell, Carolyn Ferrell Tatum and John Melton Ferrell.

15.     Charles H. Ferrrell graduated from Birmingham-Southern College and earned a divinity degree from Emory in Atlanta, Georgia.  In 1963 as a United Methodist minister in the North Alabama Conference, he wrote a letter to the then segregationist Governor George C. Wallace decrying his racial policies.  The courageous letter, that put Hal's career at risk, was reproduced in a definitive biography of Wallace highlighting that not every white Alabamian supported Wallace’s racial intolerance during those troubled times.

16.  Terry and Jerry Holliman, the twins, left Alabama in the early 1960s and located to the far north, Anchorage, Alaska where Terry worked as a fireman for 25 years.  Jerry made a career as baggage supervisor for Alaska Airlines.  Unfortunately Jerry died in 2003 of a heart attack while engaging in his favorite past time of salmon fishing.

 

 Section 2 of the Collage in the next post!