The Passing of the Grandchildren of Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman by Glenn N. Holliman
It is said that funerals become a time for family reunions, and so it was recently with the passing of a gentle, vibrant soul, Jean Holliman, the fourth of six children of Euhal and Edna Westbrook Holliman. Sadly, Jean's death was the most recent of the loss of four other grandchildren of Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman in the past few years.
Euhal, Edna and Jean, 1985
Since 2023, we have lost cousins Terry Holliman, Nancy Carol Cornelius Morton, Mary Daly Herrin and Robert W. Daly, Jr.
To refresh memories there were nineteen children born to the seven children of Ulyss (1884-1965) and Pearl Caine Holliman (1888-1955) of Fayette County and later in life, Irondale, Alabama. The seven children in chonological birth order are Melton (1908-1958), Vena (1909-1990), Euhal (1912-1989), Loudell (1914-1998), Bishop (1919-2018), Virginia (1922-2011) and Ralph (1924-2017).
Nineteen grandchildren of Ulyss and Pearl were born between 1931 and 1956. Thirteen survive as of this writing.
Attending Jean's funeral in Trussville, Alabama were left to right Jean's brother Bill, his family Kathryn Holliman Woods, Kyle Finley (Joey's husband). Rossi Arnold (Bill's grand daughter), Joey Holliman (Rossi's mother), then Bill's wife Beverly Holliman and Bill's brother-in-law Wally Allen, husband of Tommie Holliman.
Also present left to right, this writer, Glenn N. Holliman, Wally Allen next to his daughter Holly, Tommie Holliman Allen, Brian Allen, Linda Herrin Bradley, David Herrin and Alice Holliman Murphy. Other family members, Nancy Holliman Justice and her husband Bobby were present but out of camera range. Nancy lives in Southaven MS about a 5 minute drive from her mother Ann, the third born child of Euhal and Edna. Nancy's two sons Michael and Jeffery live in Dothan, Alabama.
The family of Euhal and Edna had lost Jerry Holliman in 2003 and his twin, Terry Holliman on December 28, 2023. Bill Holliman emailed me the following on Terry's life.
"Terry passed on Dec 28, 2023 at his home in Green Valley AZ. He joined the Anchorage, Alaska Fire Department as a volunteer while serving in the Army. His duty station in the Army was in the Federal Building in downtown Anchorage. The fire station was across the street from the Federal Building. He retired from the fire department with the rank of assistant fire chief. He had four children with Georgi Hercha, his first wife. Terry Ann died at birth, and three who survive him, Bronwyn, Jodi and Jason. His second wife Deborah had a child, Samantha, from a previous marrieage that Terry adopted." Picture right are Debbie and Terry in 2001.
Like Terry and Jerry, their brother Bill was attracted to Alaska, going to college there and working in the airline industry. He returned to Birmingham to the employment of another airline and over twenty-five years was stationed at five different airports. His next career move led to being a freight customs broker, and then a position with the Customs and Border Protection agency in Memphis, finally retiring for good in 2019.
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The picture left is of Jerry Holliman with his nephew Brian Allen in 2002.
Terry's twin brother Jerry had entered the Army at the same time as Terry, only he was sent to Germany. When Jerry left the Army, he joined Terry in Anchorage. As noted, Jerry died July 16, 2003 while employed as a supervisor with Alaska Airline."
This writer, who spent the first two weeks of his life at the Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman home on 3rd Avenue in Irondale in 1946, remembered a time in the early 1960s when Jean joined me on a walk on the property pointing out where Grandmother Holliman had located her chicken house. There was Christmas 1960 when Bobby Daly and I played touch football with Jerry and Terry on the Daly lawn in Irondale. Such memories of cousins, the aunts and uncles, form the fabric of a person's life.
In my next articles, will celebrate the lives of departed cousins Mary Daly Herrin, Robert W. Daly, Jr. and Nancy Carol Cornelius Morton.
