Jean Harvey Holmes Lynch

Jean Lynch, 81, a resident of Temple Texas since January 2008, departed this earth on February 13, 2013 at age 81 years. A memorial service in her honor will be held at 11:00 AM on Saturday, February 23, 2013, in the sanctuary at First United Methodist Church of Temple. Born in Glasgow, Scotland, on June 2, 1931, she was adopted at birth by Mr. and Mrs. Donald Harvey of Glasgow. After Mrs. Harvey died in 1938, she was raised by Barbara Mitchell, her adoptive grandmother. She often recalled surviving the food rationing and the German bombing raids on Glasgow during World War II. She started working at age 14, for the W.B. Dick & Company, an oil production and tramcar manufacturing company, from July 1945 through August 1947. It was only when she applied for this job that she was informed she had been adopted at birth, which was quite a shock to her. She later worked for the West End High Class Ladies' and Gent.'s Tailors and Renovators, of 902 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, until May 1951. She had been introduced by a friend to PFC William Holmes, US Army, in 1951. After several months of intermittent courtship when he was able to get leave from his post in Baumholder, Germany, she agreed to marry him. She emigrated to the US in 1952, arriving in New York City aboard the HMS Mauretania, where he met her and drove her home to Amarillo, Texas. They were married by a Justice of the Peace on September 4, 1953, in Clovis, New Mexico, because that state did not require a minimum residency prior to marriage. They resided in Amarillo, Texas, where their only son, Gary, was born in December 1955. She was a proficient typist and seamstress. While Bill was completing his BS, MS and PhD degrees in Geography at West Texas State University, the University of Tennessee, and the University of Texas, she supported her husband and son as a homemaker and by working in a variety of clerical and secretarial jobs, and sewing clothes for the family and for sale. In their early married years in Amarillo, she was the seamstress for several local professional wrestlers. She worked for the Austin State School in 1963-1964. After the family settled in Denton, Texas, in 1964, she worked as a secretary for many years at the Denton State School. She later began coursework toward a BA degree in clothing and costume design at Texas Women's University, which she eventually earned in 1971. She was an active weaver and potter, thanks to courses she took at TWU, and the family enjoyed many evenings making clay pots and other creations that she glazed and fired in the TWU kiln. She wove several materials and used them to sew into several dresses, and also wove a three-dimensional wall-hanging that is still proudly hung in her room. She was active for many years in local bridge clubs, and served several years as an assistant Cub Scout Den Mother. She and Bill Holmes were divorced in 1980, and she took a secretarial job with General Telephone company in Denton, where she worked for a number of years until her retirement. She fell in love with Robert Lynch, a machinist from Lewisville, Texas, and they were married in 1985. They were in love until the day of her death, and they supported each other through many happy years. They lived in Lewisville, Copper Canyon and later moved back to Denton, Texas until January 2007, when health problems caused them to move into an assisted living center in Temple, near her son's family. After a series of illnesses, they moved together into a Temple nursing home in March 2012. She was a longtime member of First United Methodist Church in Denton, Texas, as a member of the Christian Homebuilders class, and later became a member of First United Methodist Church of Temple. One of the joys of her later years was the discovery of two living half-sisters in England, along with several nieces and nephews. She often spoke of the significance of finally finding and communicating with her sisters after decades of uncertainty regarding her blood relations in the UK. Although they never met in person, she developed strong bonds with her sisters through telephone and email communications. She was preceded in death by her birth mother, Jane Grant Hurry Fyfe, of Cleveland, Ohio; her adoptive parents, Mr and Mrs Donald Harvey, her adoptive grandmother, Barbara Mitchell, and her first husband, William Holmes. She is survived by her half-sisters, Margaret Patterson of Leiston, England, and Kathy Cavers, of Carlisle, England; her husband of 27 years, Robert Lynch of Temple; her son, Dr. Gary Holmes and his wife Patricia, both of Temple; two grandsons, Christopher Holmes of Temple and Alan Holmes of Conroe; and one great-granddaughter, Caitlyn Holmes, of Lampasas. Jean was very outgoing, and went out of her way to get to know people wherever she went. She loved to give hugs, and was genuinely concerned about the well-being of her family, friends and acquaintances. She will be greatly missed by her family and by the many friends whose lives she touched through the course of her life. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her name to First United Methodist Church of Temple (www.fumctemple.org/), or First United Methodist Church of Denton (www.fumc-denton.com/).