Dearest Holly, you will be terribly missed. A bright light has been extinguished from our lives. I remember spending the night at your house and everytime I did we made homemade fudge from scratch and it was delicious. I remember skating at the pond after school and under the lights at night and running through the stations of the cross at the park with you and just lots of fun stuff we used to do together since we lived just across the pond from one another. I will truly miss you good friend.
I can’t remember not knowing Holly! She was my BFF. I have a picture of us in kindergarten and “yes” she had a ponytail and I had bangs. Not much changed in that department! If you look at our class pictures through 6th grade you can see that we were always standing close to each other but since Holly was always taller than I, she was in the back row and I was in the row in front of her standing close by.
We lived across the pond from each other and often used the telephone pole someone had laid across the channel between the big pond and the little pond to get to each other’s houses. The Spayd’s house was like home to me. Our parents were friends too. If Holly was at my house and was wanted at home, we could hear the clanging of the big black bell in her backyard telling Holly to come home. Don’t know if that bell is still there though.
I remember that one fall, Holly and I decided to enter a Halloween contest held at the football field. This was in the early 60’s when Sputnik and the U.S. were entering the space age. We made a costume that became Miss-Guided Missile. We used hula-hoops for our structure and corrugated paper painted silver to encircle them. A silver conical cone topped it. It looked like a big silver bullet. We paraded around the tract with a tray of Halloween candy inside. We won a prize but I can’t remember what it was.
Although I left Carey when I was 15, I returned for visits to Carey every year and stayed in touch with Holly all of her life. Holly always kept me informed of what was going on with the class of ’65 especially making sure that I knew of class reunions. We would be together most of the time at these reunions and go visit friends in Carey. Although I did not graduate with them, I considered Carey’s classmates closer than those in Alabama.
Our careers took similar tracks. We both had degrees in education and both taught for a while. Later, Holly left the teaching field for a career as a flight attendant. I considered this field but said there was no way I could get up at 3:00 AM and be sociable. But Holly could and did for many years!
While Holly was in training for becoming a stewardess, as it was called at that time, she was based in Atlanta, Delta’s base. It was against rules for anyone other than family to enter her training facility. I went in anyway because she considered me family. And I considered her family! At one of the Terry family reunions, there were so many people staying at our house Holly and I slept on the kitchen floor on air mattresses as that was the only floor space available. We warned relatives not to step on us on way to the coffee pot.
We continued to see each other when she began flying for Delta. At the beginning of this career, she lived in an apartment near the airport, as she could be first to get called thus needing to get to the airport quickly. It was not uncommon for Holly to carry her stewardess (now called flight attendant) uniform with her when we were out together in case she got called to the airport quickly. When not on call, Holly would come visit me in Marietta on the other side of Atlanta. At first, we haunted many bars together. And yes, she turned heads wherever she went! As we aged, these outings became shopping ventures.
Earlier on when Holly married, I visited her in Detroit a couple of times. One time I was there when she entered a Skyscrapers’ contest. She won a prize but was not the tallest gal there. It was then that I met Jim and his parents. Also, I visited Holly and her children twice at the Bloomfield address. The last time I was there I stayed in Brie’s room. Isn’t it coincidental that I stayed in Brie’s room on my last visits to Farmington? And here is another coincidence; on my first visit to Holly in Farmington I noted that we both had bought the same kitchen table. I had not seen this table anywhere else. Told you we were alike.
What am I going to do without my “running buddy” and seeing her at class reunions? In the last year, when she called me about our classmates, it was often to state that someone was seriously ill or worse, deceased. I jokingly told her not to call me any more about stuff like that but then I got the call from her that she had cancer. We were both astounded and one of my sisters said “Oh, no! Oh, no!”
Making visits, emailing, talking and texting Holly during this last eight months was sweet sorrow. I do not know what I am going to do without Holly! She was more than a friend to me. She was like a sister. I guess that is why I woke up in the early hours of August 14 thinking, “Something is wrong!” I could not shake that feeling nor go back to sleep. Then later that day while boarding a flight to Baltimore I got the call.
I missed the funeral service in Detroit but I did get to the burial site in Carey. Although I was not appropriately attired coming from Maryland, I was not too concerned. I knew Holly wouldn’t have cared if I had shown up in my jammies. She was glad I got there. I also went to see her the next day while leaving Carey to talk with her for a while.
Dorothy (Dottie) Van Dusen (McFadden)
Dearest Holly, you will be terribly missed. A bright light has been extinguished from our lives. I remember spending the night at your house and everytime I did we made homemade fudge from scratch and it was delicious. I remember skating at the pond after school and under the lights at night and running through the stations of the cross at the park with you and just lots of fun stuff we used to do together since we lived just across the pond from one another. I will truly miss you good friend.
Dottie
Janet Shull (Mizer)
Jack Hilty
HOLLY AND ME
I can’t remember not knowing Holly! She was my BFF. I have a picture of us in kindergarten and “yes” she had a ponytail and I had bangs. Not much changed in that department! If you look at our class pictures through 6th grade you can see that we were always standing close to each other but since Holly was always taller than I, she was in the back row and I was in the row in front of her standing close by.
We lived across the pond from each other and often used the telephone pole someone had laid across the channel between the big pond and the little pond to get to each other’s houses. The Spayd’s house was like home to me. Our parents were friends too. If Holly was at my house and was wanted at home, we could hear the clanging of the big black bell in her backyard telling Holly to come home. Don’t know if that bell is still there though.
I remember that one fall, Holly and I decided to enter a Halloween contest held at the football field. This was in the early 60’s when Sputnik and the U.S. were entering the space age. We made a costume that became Miss-Guided Missile. We used hula-hoops for our structure and corrugated paper painted silver to encircle them. A silver conical cone topped it. It looked like a big silver bullet. We paraded around the tract with a tray of Halloween candy inside. We won a prize but I can’t remember what it was.
Although I left Carey when I was 15, I returned for visits to Carey every year and stayed in touch with Holly all of her life. Holly always kept me informed of what was going on with the class of ’65 especially making sure that I knew of class reunions. We would be together most of the time at these reunions and go visit friends in Carey. Although I did not graduate with them, I considered Carey’s classmates closer than those in Alabama.
Our careers took similar tracks. We both had degrees in education and both taught for a while. Later, Holly left the teaching field for a career as a flight attendant. I considered this field but said there was no way I could get up at 3:00 AM and be sociable. But Holly could and did for many years!
While Holly was in training for becoming a stewardess, as it was called at that time, she was based in Atlanta, Delta’s base. It was against rules for anyone other than family to enter her training facility. I went in anyway because she considered me family. And I considered her family! At one of the Terry family reunions, there were so many people staying at our house Holly and I slept on the kitchen floor on air mattresses as that was the only floor space available. We warned relatives not to step on us on way to the coffee pot.
We continued to see each other when she began flying for Delta. At the beginning of this career, she lived in an apartment near the airport, as she could be first to get called thus needing to get to the airport quickly. It was not uncommon for Holly to carry her stewardess (now called flight attendant) uniform with her when we were out together in case she got called to the airport quickly. When not on call, Holly would come visit me in Marietta on the other side of Atlanta. At first, we haunted many bars together. And yes, she turned heads wherever she went! As we aged, these outings became shopping ventures.
Earlier on when Holly married, I visited her in Detroit a couple of times. One time I was there when she entered a Skyscrapers’ contest. She won a prize but was not the tallest gal there. It was then that I met Jim and his parents. Also, I visited Holly and her children twice at the Bloomfield address. The last time I was there I stayed in Brie’s room. Isn’t it coincidental that I stayed in Brie’s room on my last visits to Farmington? And here is another coincidence; on my first visit to Holly in Farmington I noted that we both had bought the same kitchen table. I had not seen this table anywhere else. Told you we were alike.
What am I going to do without my “running buddy” and seeing her at class reunions? In the last year, when she called me about our classmates, it was often to state that someone was seriously ill or worse, deceased. I jokingly told her not to call me any more about stuff like that but then I got the call from her that she had cancer. We were both astounded and one of my sisters said “Oh, no! Oh, no!”
Making visits, emailing, talking and texting Holly during this last eight months was sweet sorrow. I do not know what I am going to do without Holly! She was more than a friend to me. She was like a sister. I guess that is why I woke up in the early hours of August 14 thinking, “Something is wrong!” I could not shake that feeling nor go back to sleep. Then later that day while boarding a flight to Baltimore I got the call.
I missed the funeral service in Detroit but I did get to the burial site in Carey. Although I was not appropriately attired coming from Maryland, I was not too concerned. I knew Holly wouldn’t have cared if I had shown up in my jammies. She was glad I got there. I also went to see her the next day while leaving Carey to talk with her for a while.
Miss you already Holly,
Miriam