In Memory

Douglas Holmes VIEW PROFILE

Douglas Milton Holmes passed away of complications from colorectal cancer and dissection of the aorta at age 73. He was the son of Vara Morgan Holmes and Stacy Milton Holmes and the younger brother of Stacy Morgan Holmes of Metuchen, New Jersey, and family.

Mr. Holmes was born in Fayetteville, NC and educated in the Raleigh, NC and Norfolk, VA public schools, the U. S. Military Academy at West Point, Old Dominion College, and the UNC-CH law school and graduate schools. 

He was an attorney, C.P.A., professor, and real estate broker. He was also one of many "alumni" who worked through the years at Julian's College Shop on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, NC. He was active in politics and a candidate for several offices.

A private graveside service for the family was held Tuesday, April 26, 2016 at Cross Creek Cemetery in Fayetteville, NC.

Services entrusted to Adcock Funeral Home & Crematory.



 
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04/27/16 01:56 PM #1    

Linda Swain (Ferguson)

I am so saddened to hear of Doug's death. His brother Stacy and my brother Bill were really good friends; so I knew Doug before he even entered Sherwood Bates when school started that year. Of course, I immediatlely claimed him as my boyfriend! We've stayed in touch via email since the 40th class reunion. He's gone through a lot, healthwise. At least now, he's no longer in any pain. I'll miss his clever writings. RIP, Doug


04/28/16 10:13 AM #2    

William Stroupe

Doug and his family lived on Boylan Avenue for awhile, and my family lived on St. Mary's St., so we knew each other in elementary school. Doug was very popular at Wiley - I don't know if that was before or after he went to Sherwood Bates - and sometimes had an impish sense of humor. When our fourth-grade teach Mrs. Smith (nee Clemmons) was getting married, she told the class, "Be sure to look for my picture in Sunday's paper." Doug piped up, "In the funnies?" He was very smart without being bookish, athletic without showboating, and congenial. He and I kept in touch through this site, and I know everyone who knew him will miss him greatly. As a footnote, Doug was one of the few guys I knew who wasn't afraid of Gary Cheek; that's saying something.


04/28/16 02:04 PM #3    

Charles Styron

In the third person, Doug was always "Holmes" to me, but I called him Doug when we met face to face. It's interesting that that was often the protocol among many of my friends, but it was only true for the guys as far as I can remember, never the girls. Doug and didn't spend much time together, but I connected with him in a most unusual way in 1968-69. The two of us and two others lived a basement suite of four apartments that shared a large, common bathroom at the end of the hall. The apartment was on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, and it was a half-block down from Danziger's and the Post Office--right across the street from one of the quads on the UNC Campus. I can't remember what Doug was doing. He may have been in Law School or studying accounting or working--I can't recall. I was a first-year student in the City Planning Department--one of my many errant adventures. Doug and I would hang out briefly off and on, and I remember that he had a large room with a large bed. On both sides of the bed were several tall stacks of books. They were on the floor, and they must have been two feet high. More importantly, they were about everything imaginable, and he was actively reading (or had read) a tangible part of each of them. I asked him about them, and he laughed and said that he would probably never finish most of them because he kept buying more. As the short resume in his obituary shows, Doug didn't just do one thing. His appetites were wide-ranging. He's probably finishing up some of those books right now. I hope so because I have a few more that I think he might like. 


04/29/16 09:20 AM #4    

Jimmy Maynard

So sorry to learn about Doug's passing. My thoughts reflect many of the comments already posted. He had a delightful impish and irreverent sense of humor and a very congenial manner. We were good friends at Daniels and Broughton and I had lost touch until the 40th reunion and we spent some time catching up and commensurating about the fact that neither of us ever married. In short, he was a " brother ". I still have the business card he gave me at the reunion and afterwards I wondered what he did with all those credentials listed on the card to make a living. Apparently, he lived a good and full life. RIP, Doug


05/02/16 07:59 PM #5    

Ann Bennett (Rogers)

Rick Suberman has asked me to post these memories of Doug for him.

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My earliest memories of Gary and Doug go back to late elementary school years.  Gary at age 12 and Doug at about 10. 

Doug was one of my first friends in Raleigh after I moved from Chapel Hill.  He and I were in Mrs. Brown's 5th grade class at Sherwood-Bates.  We vied for the attention of Janet Ferrell.  We both played songs dedicated to her on Jimmy Capps’s "Our Best to You" on WPTF's radio station late at night.  I do believe that Doug got much more attention from Janet than I did (maybe she liked his musical taste more than mine).  We continued to be friends up until the last few years when I think he became rather reclusive possibly due to illness.  Prior to that we would run into each other around Chapel Hill on occasion and he would tell me of his latest female conquests and then giggle his unique giggle.   Doug was always Doug: a one-of-a-kind.  He told me how and why he left West Point:  he failed the rope swing test across the Hudson.  He couldn't stand heights and it was about a 100-foot drop to the water.  Nope, and good-bye to the Army.  He was incredibly smart but wrong-headed about politics, and fortunately, at least for me (us), he never got elected to a public office.  He advertised his law practice by "cleaning" up a portion of highway 54 with a state sign saying that he did.  I think he said he did it once.

Doug loved our class.  He always wanted to know about all of us. I think this list-serve was a great thing for him. The reunions were not to be missed except the last one when apparently he was too ill to be there.  I will miss him.


05/03/16 03:51 PM #6    

Larry Lovvorn

I believe at one point Doug lived on Oberlin Road between Daniels and Glenwood.  I had just started playing the trombone and was riding my bicycle home with the trombone strapped across my back.  As I was speeding down the hill towards Glenwood there was Doug walking home.  So I thought I would "tap" him on the shoulder as I went by, forgetting the trombone hanging out.  It hit him across the shoulder and almost knocked him down.  At our 40th he remembered the incident just not who did it so I kindly gave him an update and told him how many times I have told that story.  He could laugh then!


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