Obituaries from

The EARLE ENTERPRISE

(and other various articles)

 

James Walter Holt Obituary

 

Contributed by daughter, Ann Holt Carpenter

 

Many of the burials at Gibson Bayou Cemetery were conducted by Holt Funeral Home of Earle which was owned and operated by brothers, Bill and J. W. Holt.  Their father was Walter “W.F.” Holt who preached at Gibson Bayou Church many years before his son’s death in 1948. He had a great love and affection for the people who attended the church, and contributed a great deal towards the history of the church.

 

J. W. Holt was tragically killed following a funeral that had been conducted in Cross County.  His obituary, which appeared in the Earle Enterprise, has been graciously provided by his daughter, Ann.

 

 

Return to Earle Enterprise Index

 

 

Earle Enterprise, Earle, Arkansas

C. I. Phelps, Editor

Ruth Phelps, Associate Editor

Mrs. Wrenn Phelps, Society

Published every Friday by Phelps Printing Company at Earle, Ark

 

 

Earle Enterprise, June 14, 1948, Earle, Arkansas

By Charley Phelps, Editor

 

J.W. Holt Killed In Car Wreck,

Ardent Sportsman

 

Earle experienced a second saddening shock when news was received last Friday (June 11) that J.W. Holt, local business man, had been killed in an automobile accident on the Bay Road, two miles north of Levesque.  Michael Costello of Memphis sustained painful injuries in the accident.  Mr. Holt was returning from a funeral which he had been conducting at Bay Village when the accident occurred.

      J.W. was 40 years of age.  Born in Trezvant, Tenn., and moved to Earle with his parents when he was 12 years old.  He attended Blue Mountain College and was a licensed civil engineer with the U.S. government, working along the Mississippi river for a number of  years.  He worked with an Alabama concern for several years in an engineering capacity just prior to moving back to Earle.

      He returned to Earle about five years ago and became associated with his father and brother in The Holt Company.  He was actively engaged in this business at the time of his death.

      Jay's friends were legion, and came from all walks of life, because his creed was that all men were born equal and remained so despite financial circumstances.  A rugged exterior covered a heart of gold and many of his deeds of kindness went unnoticed as he made no outward show of pretense.

      To see the hundreds from life's myriad estates who came to pay their last respects, and note the genuine sorrow mirrored in their faces, was to grasp the unaffected nobleness of the man.

      Jay was an outdoorsman at heart and had followed outdoor work until he came to Earle.  He was an ardent sportsman, having played football in his youth but in later years confined this love to hunting, fishing and raising bird dogs.  Raising, training and hunting fine bird dogs was the chief sporting interest to which he devoted his time.  He loved bird dogs as he loved people and always kept several good hunting dogs in his kennel.  He will be sorely missed by the sporting fraternity.

 

Jay's not dead,

Nor forgot;

But lives instead

In Joe and Spot,

And Little'un. and Mike,

and Jack, and Dan,

And all the bird dogs in

the land.

For these he loved

In life's short span;

 Jay lives in the hearts

Of the bird dog clan.

 

Besides his wife, Joy Graves Holt, he leaves three daughters, Ann, Marilyn and Judy Holt; his parents, Mr. and Mrs. W. F. Holt of  Earle; two brothers, Bill Holt of Earle and Caton Holt of Little Rock; three sisters, Mrs. J. V. Satterfield of Little Rock, Mrs. Charlie Ferris of Macon, Mississippi, and Mrs. Lucille Davenport of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

Pallbearers were Walt Campbell, James Terry, Dick Owens, Charley Phelps, Gene Morrison, Charley Williams, Ellis Haddad and Frank Jaroe.

Funeral services were held at the Earle Presbyterian Church Sunday afternoon at two o'clock, Rev. J. M. Barnett, pastor of Earle Methodist Church, officiating, assisted by Rev. Edgar Storey, Presbyterian minister.  Burial was in Memorial Park Cemetery, Memphis, Tennessee, Sunday afternoon, with National Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.

 

 

 

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