John Burnham Holstead, III

John Burnham Holstead, III, devoted husband of Marilyn Morris Holstead for 61 years and proud father of Will, Rand, and Scott Holstead, died on the 8th of September 2025, surrounded by his three sons, two beautiful daughters-in-laws and four wonderful grandchildren. He had a long and distinguished personal and professional career. He was 87 years of age.

John was born in Dallas, Texas, on the 5th of March 1938. His parents were John Burnham Holstead II and Maurice Cook Holstead. He was a member of two pioneer North Louisiana families. His paternal great grandfather, the first John Burnham Holstead, was a journalist, writer, self-taught attorney and state court judge in Ruston, Lincoln Parish, Louisiana. Judge Holstead was one of the founders of Louisiana Tech University, established in Ruston in 1894 as Louisiana Polytechnical Institute. John’s maternal grandfather, John D. Cook, owned and operated a large tract of farm and timber land near Bernice, Union Parish, Louisiana, which John affectionately called the Home Place. Part of such land remains in the Cook family. The roots of John’s family tree are buried deep in the red clay hills of North Louisiana.

During John’s childhood his family lived in Georgia, Texas, and Mississippi. In 1952, John’s family moved to Ruston, his father’s hometown, and John entered Ruston High School in the ninth grade. John participated in many extracurricular activities such as the Student Council, the debate team, choir, and varsity sports. He was a member of Ruston High School’s state championship track team. He graduated from Ruston High School in 1956. In 2004, John was the first graduate of Ruston High School that its Alumni Association recognized as being a Distinguished Alumni.

John attended Louisiana Tech University and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1959. While attending Louisiana Tech, John was elected President of the Freshman class and a member of the Student Senate. He was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity and the Air Force ROTC. On the 100th anniversary of the founding of Louisiana Tech, John was recognized as one of Louisiana Tech’s Centennial Alumni.

John attended the University of Texas School of Law in Austin, Texas, and he received a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree in 1962. While attending law school, John was elected to be a member of the law school’s Board of Governors, the Honor Council and the law school’s representative in the main university’s Student Senate. John was a member and the founding director of the Legal Research Board. He received the prestigious Council Award in recognition of his many contributions to the school of law.

After graduating from the School of Law, John’s first job was working as a Law Clerk for the Texas Supreme Court. He worked primarily for Justice Clyde Smith and closely with Justice Ruel Walker and Chief Justice Robert Calvert. In that capacity, John did legal research, drafted, and edited majority and dissenting opinions for the justices for whom he worked. After his judicial Clerkship ended in 1963, John joined the law firm of Culton, Morgan, Britain & White in Amarillo, Texas as an Associate attorney.

In August of 1963, prior to moving to Amarillo, John and Marilyn Morris of Houston became engaged to be married. On the 23rd of November 1963, the day after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, John and Marilyn were married in The Church of St. John the Divine in Houston. John and Marilyn established their first home in a small apartment in Amarillo, and they agreed that if they did not enjoy living in Amarillo after being there for two years, John would seek employment with a law firm in Houston, Texas.

In August of 1965, Marilyn and John moved to Houston, and John joined the firm of Vinson, Elkins, Weems & Searls (now Vinson & Elkin) as an Associate attorney in the firm’s commercial litigation section. At the time John joined Vinson & Elkins, he was the 193rd lawyer that had been employed by the firm since its founding in 1917. His initial assignments were working with and training under outstanding trial and appellate partners such as Ben Rice and Jack Snodgress. John’s hard work, legal research skills and trial talents resulted in him receiving substantial commercial investigation and litigation responsibilities and experience early in his career. In 1972, the partners in the firm voted to admit John to the partnership. John remained a partner in Vinson & Elkins for the remainder of his professional career. He retired from the firm as a Senior Partner in 2002. Upon his retirement, Vinson & Elkins and John established and funded a scholarship at Ruston High School known as the Outstanding Achievement Award which is given each year to that graduating senior who has earned, by whatever means, the greatest respect of the faculty and alumni of Ruston High School.

During the time that John was engaged in the full-time practice of law and all the time away from home that his litigation responsibilities involved, John enjoyed coaching his three sons’ little league football and baseball teams. When his sons were playing high school football, John never missed their games—he always managed to attend.

John was active in civic affairs. He served on the Board of Directors and as President of the Afton Oaks Property Owners Association and the River Oaks Property Owners Association. John and Marilyn built a bay home in Pirates Cove in Galveston, and he was also a member of the Board of the Pirates Property Owners Association.

John was also a member of the Board of Advisors of Baylor College of Medicine’s Biology of Inflammation Center, and a member of the Board of Directors of Goodwill Industries of Houston. He was a member of the Houston Bar Association and Foundation, the Texas Bar Association, and the American Bar Association. He was a member of River Oaks Country Club in Houston.

During his long legal career, John was primarily responsible for conducting major investigations, representing plaintiffs and defendants in litigation and handling appeals in complex commercial litigation in state and federal courts in many jurisdictions. He was a member in good standing, with the highest ratings, of the State Bar of Texas and the United States District Courts in Texas. In addition, John was licensed to represent clients in litigation in courts in New York, New Jersey, Mississippi and Nebraska.

John was licensed to practice before United States Circuit Court of Appeals (5th and 10th Circuits), the United States Supreme Court, and the International Court of Arbitration in London, England. John authored papers and gave lectures on civil litigation and business disputes at seminars sponsored by the Houston and Texas Bar Associations for the benefit of lawyers seeking to fulfill their Continuing Legal Education requirements. John’s skills in litigation and advocacy, especially involving cases tried before juries, were recognized by his peers by his election to be a Fellow of the International Society of Barristers.

In addition to the practice of law, John enjoyed traveling, hiking, painting, and photography. He always pressed the limit of his and his family members’ endurance, and this tendency earned him the family nickname of “Stepper.” John and Marilyn traveled to Canada, Alaska, Mexico and the Sea of Cortez, the Galapagos and Peru, Italy, Greece, and East Africa. In addition, John traveled with friends to France and New Zealand.

John and son Will took a 10-day float trip on the Colorado River for the entire length of the Grand Canyon. John enjoyed flying with Rand and hiking and camping with Will and Rand in the canyons of the Escalante National Recreational Area in Utah. In 2019, when John was 83 years old, Scott took him on a trip to the Holy Land where John was baptized in the Jordan River. Scott told John he wanted to take him to the Holy Land and see him baptized there to help him cram for his final exams.

After his retirement from the practice of law in 2002, with the encouragement of a friend, John enrolled in the Glassell School of Art which is affiliated with the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. Prior to enrolling in Glassell, John did not know that he had any special interest in or talent for drawing and painting, but he soon discovered entirely new interests and talents. At Glassell, over several years, John took courses in drawing, design, color theory, oil painting and the highest levels of watercolor painting. During the period he was a student at Glassell, John most enjoyed watercolor painting under the instruction and guidance of Arthur Turner and other noted watercolorists such as Cheng-Khee Chee and Mark Stewart. John’s watercolor paintings have been exhibited in one man and group shows, he received commissions to do paintings of specific subjects and he won awards in exhibitions organized by the Watercolor Art Society of Houston of which he was a member.

John could not have accomplished all that he did personally and professionally without the love, help and support of his beloved wife, Marilyn. She was a wonderful and supportive wife, companion, homemaker, and mother of their three sons. She was the love of his life.

John is survived by his wife, Marilyn, and by their son Will Holstead of Austin; his son Rand and his wife Lindsay and their two children, Mia and Randall Holstead of Houston; and by his son Scott, his wife Jill, and their two children, Tommy and Jean Holstead also of Houston. He is also survived by his sister Carol Holstead Van Hook, her husband James Van Hook and their two children, John Van Hook, and Laura Spann, all of whom reside in Ft. Worth, TX. John’s cousin, Harry Cook, was like a brother. John is survived by Harry’s wife, Alice, and their two sons Andrew and John Cook who reside on or near the Cook Estate lands near Bernice, Louisiana.

Serving as honorary pallbearers are Judge Ewing Werlein, Jr., Joseph M. Grant, John C. Dawson, Jr., Homer L. Luther, Jr., Steve Smith, Larry L Loyd, Harry R. Cook†, Tully Roland Florey, III†, James G. Moses†, Eugene H. Vaughan†, Hebert M. Loyd†, Kirby Attwell†, A. Frank Smith, Jr.†, James W. McCartney†, John H. Smither†, Don B. Sheffield† and all of his other close personal friends he cherished each and every day at The Tradition.

The family would also like to acknowledge and express their sincere gratitude to Victor Jimenez, Patricia O’Toole and Carron Hanks for their decades of loyal service and friendship as well as to John and Marilyn’s devoted caregivers, Regina Morales, Shirlyn Fagan and Barbara Gonzales.

A celebration of John’s life is to be conducted at half past one o’clock in the afternoon on Sunday, the 14th of September, in the Jasek Chapel at Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston. Immediately following, all are invited to greet the family during a reception in the adjacent grand foyer.

For those unable to attend the service in-person, virtual attendance may be accessed by selecting the "Join Livestream" icon in the service section below.

Prior to the memorial service, the family will have gathered for a private interment at Memorial Oaks Cemetery in Houston.

In lieu of customary remembrances, the family suggests memorial contributions in honor of John’s life be directed to the "Outstanding Achievement Award Scholarship Fund” at Ruston High School. Checks can be made out to the “Outstanding Achievement Award Scholarship Fund” and mailed to the Ruston High School Alumni Association, PO Box 1694, Ruston, LA 71273.

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