Lassie Green Holleman Jr., A Life of Activism 

The following accounts are written by Whitney Campbell Christensen, the granddaughter of Lassie Green Holleman Jr., and edited by Grace Holliman, June 2025.

Lassie Green Holleman Jr. was born in Durham, NC, on August 21, 1926, to Lassie Green Holleman Sr. and Cornie Utley Holleman. He had one sister, Alice Vivian Holleman, who was seventeen years older. Lassie Jr., known to everyone as "LG," loved to have a good time and had a larger-than-life personality that matched his physical presence. LG stood 6 feet 4 inches tall, and before he went bald later in life, he had thick blonde hair with a cowlick that added at least another inch. 

LG’s father, Lassie Sr., was respected in the Durham community for his generosity as a store owner. LG, who shared a strong bond with his father, was eager to follow in his footsteps. Before LG obtained his driver’s license, he delivered groceries from his father’s store to those in need. Whitney recalls, “He would laugh as he told his children stories of driving groceries up and down Roxboro Road as a 14-year-old with no driver's license. It is clear that LG had a very big personality even from a young age.”

LG served in the Navy during WWII. He was married twice: first to Nancy Merodean Hughes, with whom he had a daughter named Carolyn. After their divorce, he married Peggy Elaine Dillehay, also from Durham. Peggy and LG had two daughters, Lisa Holleman and Terri Sanford Holleman, thirteen months apart. Terri was named after LG's friend, NC Governor and Presidential candidate Terry Sanford. 

Images: Lassie Jr., circa 1940s in US Navy uniforms. 

Whitney notes LG was very active in politics, running several local, statewide, and national campaigns. Helping lead Terry Sanford's Presidential campaign and again as he became North Carolina's 65th Governor in 1961 was a significant honor for LG. Although Sanford's 1970s Presidential bids were unsuccessful, LG tirelessly supported him. He also assisted other North Carolina politicians, like former NC Secretary of State Rufus Edmenstein. Edmenstein remarked, "I never had to campaign in Durham County, because LG would always deliver all of the votes for me there." LG was known for driving voters to the polls, and he proudly identified as a "yellow dog Democrat," stating he would vote for a yellow dog before considering anyone outside the Democratic party.

Image: Peggy, LG, and their two daughters, circa 1962.

LG was a prominent figure in the civil rights movement in North Carolina. He marched arm in arm with some of the nation's most notable civil rights leaders. Due to his activism, crosses were burned in his front yard and bricks were thrown through his windows by the Ku Klux Klan. Nothing could shake his commitment to equal rights for all, and he continued his efforts undeterred.

 LG and Peggy were key figures in local labor movements and contributed to the success of unionizing Durham's major employer, American Tobacco. For decades, they worked in the tobacco factories, now the American Tobacco Campus, now redeveloped into a vibrant restaurant and entertainment hub in downtown Durham. LG and Peggy led the American Tobacco union, negotiating better wages, benefits, and working conditions for factory employees. Their daughter Terri remembers joining a picket line as a girl when LG and Peggy protested for equal pay for African American workers, which was ultimately successful. In the early 2000s, Duke University interviewed Peggy for a publication concerning the labor movement in North Carolina. 

Image: a letter from the office of North Carolina’s Lieutenant Governor Jim Hunt, requesting Peggy's assistance with a labor issue. 

 LG and Peggy enjoyed a comfortable retirement, which they credited to the union, traveling across the country in their RV. They were huge Duke Basketball fans, and their last home was just outside the university’s campus on Moreen Road in Durham. 

They loved to gamble and were not shy about having a few drinks. However, LG eventually joined AA and took great pride in his involvement with the group. Both were known for their witty one-liners and amusing Southern sayings. LG passed away on February 24, 2002, in Durham after spending many years in an assisted living facility due to a series of strokes. Every day, Peggy brought him a homemade tomato sandwich for lunch.

Peggy passed away in her home on April 30, 2022, at the age of 91, a week after her grandchildren celebrated her birthday and just weeks after Coach K retired from Duke Basketball. A quote from Peggy’s final days, which appeared in her obituary, read, "If Coach K is no longer coaching basketball, I have no business staying on this earth."

Through their activism and political advocacy, LG and Peggy Holleman played a meaningful role in shaping Durham into the community it is today. The family is very proud of their role in Durham's twentieth-century history. 

Image: Peggy, LG, and their two daughters, Terri and Lisa, date unknown.