Jeff, Richard and Don Holiman, Part 1

 Last spring Jeanette Holiman Stewart, my wife Barbara and I had the joy of visiting the multigenerational family of Richard Holiman in Florida.  It was really a genealogical fest as we compared notes on the Hollyman paternal line from England to Virginia in 1650 and the diaspora throughout America.  Along the generations, the name has been spelled several ways. The Holiman spelling largely emerged when the Warren Holliman family in the late 1830s moved from the Carolinas first to Alabama and then to Arkansas, dropping an ‘l’ along the way.

This blog also introduces a new genealogist of our shared lineages, my daughter Grace A. Holliman, pictured right, an English major from Virginia Tech gifted with story writing skills. As with me, she appreciates how our families have lived and moved through history.  In this article, she interviews our distant cousins. – Glenn N. Holliman

The Richard S. Holiman Family Story, Part 1 by Grace A. Holliman

“He wasn’t afraid to go off the beaten path….” – Jeff Holiman on his father, Richard Holiman

As I began my virtual interview with Jeff Holiman and his father, Richard, the first thing I noticed was the genuine connection between the two generations. Jeff (b.1971) and Richard (b. 1946), were at ease sitting next to each other at a table in Jeff’s home in Clearwater, Florida. As we began our introductions I had the pleasure of meeting Gina, Jeff’s wife, who has been an important contributor to Jeff’s Holiman family research. Jeff also credited his aunt, Lynda Holiman Jones, with sparking his interest in genealogy over twenty-five years ago.

Left to right, Richard S. Holiman, Kimberly D. and Jeff Holiman, children of Richard and Ryan B. and Jayden S. Holiman, children of Jeff.

“I was in college when my parents lived in Hong Kong,” Jeff, now a mortgage banker,  said. “While most people went home for spring break and Christmas, my sister and I flew to China. It was the late 1980’s and China was changing, opening to the western world by making and selling products that Americans wanted to buy."

Richard was part of this process. He began as a buyer for Eckerd Drugs and had a firsthand look at the role that factories played in small Chinese communities. “Entire villages were employed by these factories,” Richard said. “Children would come by after school in search of work. Often there were jobs they could do, like placing stickers on a package to keep it closed.” Richard reflected and continued, “These were poor people trying to make a living. All they wanted to do was work to get ahead and take care of the older generation.”

Gina (left) wife of Jeff with Jeanette Holiman Stewart, author of the Ancestry.com Hollyman Family site. They stand in front of a genealogical map produced by the Richard Holiman families. 

Jeff recalled a trip to Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. “On one corner there was a solider with a machine gun and on another corner, a Kentucky Fried Chicken. The KFC had a long line wrapped around the building. Because we were Westerners, our guide took us to the front of the line where we were served quickly. It was uncomfortable. As we ate, I watched our guide consume every morsel of chicken off the bone. I compared his bare chicken bones to our pile of bones with bits of meat and gristle still on them that we were going to throw away.”

 Jeff remembered how Richard would take him down streets where guides didn’t take tourists. “Dad would take us to see everything. We would walk around the block and see men squatting in alleys playing Mahjonng or Go. He wasn’t afraid to go off the beaten path to show us what life was really like.” Jeff paused and added, “I have deep respect for the vast, rich history of the Asian culture and appreciation for the life my parents gave me in the U.S.”

Richard Holiman in the 1980s in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China

Richard, the well dressed western businessman in China at a factory four decades ago.

As this part of our conversation ended, Richard quietly added, “People in Asian cultures are amazing.”  With that, the three of us paused and I realized how profound Richard’s career had been for him and his family. As our conversation continued I began to understand where Richard, the youngest of three sons of a Baptist preacher, inherited his proclivity for exploration and learning and caring for others.  - Grace A. Holliman

Note: the story will be continued in the next blog.  To learn more about Hollyman and associated families, please go to the comprehensive archive of over 3,500 items at www.bholliman.com.  This site also contains information on the parental Hollyman lines (various spellings) as far back as the 1300s in England.