Betty Ann Holmes

Service: The Mass of Christian Burial for her will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Saturday in the St. Francis Village Catholic Chapel at 4070 St. Francis Village Rd, Crowley, TX 76036 with visitation 1 hour prior to the service.

Memorials: In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial contributions be made either to the SFV Development Fund or to St. Francis Village Catholic Church Poor Box.

Betty was born and raised on the family farm southwest of Lincoln, KS. Upon graduation from high school, she entered Kansas Weslyan University, Salina, KS, preparing to enter nurses training. Then she entered the Military's Cadet Nursing Corps at Christ's Hospital in Topeka, KS, graduating as a Registered Nurse in 1946. She married her high School sweetheart, Dan Holmes, when he returned home from the Navy that same year. They were blessed with a long and happy union, and were blessed with four sons. After her marriage, Betty worked in her profession part-time until after the family was raised. Always having particular concern for children's diseases, she volunteered to assist the County Health doctor in Anthony, KS to provide DPT shots for all the students. When the newly developed Salk Vaccine became available for protection from the dreaded Polio disease that was so prevalent at the time, she obtained funding from a public source in order that all students could receive the vaccination and be protected. Later she became School Nurse in the Anthony, KS school system and again she tapped into a trust fund to help children whose families could not afford needed medical appliances and treatment. She also was the School Nurse in the South Page school system in rural Shenandoah, Iowa, where again she helped many poor families find funding for their children's needed medical treatment. She retired from nursing when Dan's job with USDA's Soil Conservation Service required them to move to several other locations in the Midwest and South. She devoted the remainder of her life in voluntary, compassionate care for the sick, poor, and elderly in addition to her family and in support of Dan's career. Betty was a member of Christ's Hospital Alumni, The St. Vincent de Paul Society, the North Texas Soil Conservation Service Alumni Club, the Knights of Columbus Auxiliary, and the Prime Time Club of St. Bartholomew Catholic Church. Since retiring to St. Francis Village she volunteered her assistance in many activities of the Village as well as assisting residents when needed and was a long time Sacristan, Mass Server, Eucharistic Minister and Extraordinary Eucharistic Minister for the sick in the Catholic Chapel. She was a loving and devoted wife, mother and an advocate of all peoples and countries coming together in love and unity as Jesus taught. One son, David, preceded Betty in death at 16 years of age.

Survivors:Sons, Richard Holmes and wife Bronia of Columbia, SC, Steven Holmes and wife, Fabienne, Berkeley CA, Joseph Holmes and wife, Deborah, Columbia, SC; five grandchildren; three great-grandchildren