Lillian Holmes Gips

Lillian Geneva Durst Holmes Gips, beloved daughter, sister, wife, daughter-in-law, sister-in-law, mother, aunt, mother-in-law, grandmommy, and great-gran-gran Lillian passed away April 22, 2023. She was 101 years and 4 months old.

She was born December 16, 1921 in Mason County, Texas to Richard and Annie Jordan Durst, the younger sister of Nelson and Mildred Durst. Her 8 great-grandparents all emigrated from Germany to Texas in the 1840s and 1850s, some when Texas was still a republic. She always expressed her gratitude to them for their courage in leaving their homeland, and for the sufferings they endured as they made a new life of freedom in Texas.

Lillian and her siblings grew up in the ranching community near Art, Texas, attending the Methodist church her ancestors built. They rode their horse to a one-room schoolhouse, and she often talked about the feeling of joy and freedom when she rode that horse to the highest point on her family land to look out over the beautiful Hill Country. After graduating from Mason High School, she attended Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas before attending business college in San Antonio, then going to work. One of her bosses was her future mother-in-law, and she met her first husband Harry Crowe Holmes, Jr. at a company picnic held after he returned home after WWII. They married in 1946 and eventually settled in Dallas in the early 1950s. They were very active in Walnut Hill United Methodist Church and Highland Park United Methodist Church. Several years after Harry’s death in 1992, she married Paul Gips and they were married 19 years.

Her life was spent joyfully serving others, whether family, church, her neighborhood, across Dallas or across the world. Her special gifts were baking and sewing, and many people treasure precious things she made for them. She was a mainstay of many bake sales, and her sewn creations raised money for scholarships through various organizations such as St. Mark’s School, Texas A&M Mothers’ Club, and UT Houston Medical School.

Survivors include her daughter Kay Holmes Broaddus and her husband Dr. James Anthony Broaddus; her son Dr. Bruce Neal Holmes and his wife Lisa Nordstrom Holmes; her grandsons Scott Anthony Broaddus and his wife Courtney, Jeffrey Jordan Broaddus and his wife Karen, and Adam Christian Holmes; her adored great-grandchildren Harrison Cooper, Lillian Grace, Addison Rose, Blakely Kay, Mary Charlotte, and Andrew James Broaddus; and several nieces and nephews. Special thanks go to Mildred Lawler Brown, a family friend of many decades who was especially loved and loving in Mom’s last years.

A memorial service will be held Friday, May 26 at 1pm in the C.C. Young Vista 2nd Floor Chapel. Burial will be at Hillcrest Memorial Park on Saturday, May 27 at 3pm.

“I’ve had a great life!”

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.Sparkman-Hillcrest.com for the Broaddus, Holmes and Gips family.