Charles Richardson Holman

Charles Richardson Holman, age 98, went to be with his Lord and Savior on July 27, 2014. He passed peacefully as his loving wife, Lucy held him in her arms. Charlie had a full life and was grateful for all the wonderful memories he had. He travelled extensively throughout the United States as well as abroad. He loved his wife and family. He loved the outdoors. His tales of the adventures in his life were loved by all. Charlie’s wit and laugh were contagious. Charlie’s father was Charles F. Holman and his mother was Emma Richardson Holman. Charlie was born in Norwood, Massachusetts, the oldest of 6 brothers and sisters. He graduated from Norwood High School and received his Bachelors of Science Degree in Chemical Engineering from The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1936. Charlie was awarded a Masters Degree in Chemical Engineering from MIT in 1937. During this time he was a member of the College Championship Rifle Team. Charlie was always an excellent shot. He also was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the US Army Reserve at the age of 20. Charles began his career in business in 1937 with E I Dupont in Wilmington, Delaware. In 1938 he joined the engineering staff of the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company (PPG) at the Company’s Barberton, Ohio plant. During an intern assignment in Buffalo, New York, Charlie met Priscilla Denison and they were married in 1939. In 1940, Charlie volunteered for 1 year active duty in the US Army and was assigned to Camp Livingston Louisiana as an Assistant Ordinance Officer, 32nd Division. He graduated Ordinance School in Aberdeen, Maryland and became Army Inspector of Smokeless Powder, Alabama Ordinance Works operated by Dupont. Charlie was also promoted to 1st Lieutenant. Charlie and Priscilla had their 1st of three children, Charles Richardson Holman, Jr in April 1942 in Birmingham, Alabama. Charlie was then ordered to Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. After graduating he was assigned to the staff of General George C. Patton as Captain and Assistant G-2 (Intelligence Officer). On April 12, 1943, after receiving “Top Secret” sealed orders, Charlie boarded a ship at the Los Angeles Port of Debarkation sailing for an unknown destination. This was also son Charles’ first birthday. After 3 days at sea he found out that he was bound for Calcutta, India. He became Assistant Ordinance Officer and then Ordinance Officer and his responsibilities included overseeing the logistics of all equipment and supplies for troops serving the Asian theater which included China, Burma, and India. He had to plan for the current and future needs of over 250,000 men and women fighting and serving throughout Asia. He and his direct reports had to manually plan for these needs without the assistance of computers which were not even produced at that time. Imagine forecasting the needs of over a quarter million soldiers, considering future estimates of battles and soldiers not yet in the Army. All the bullets, boots, clothing, food needs, medical supplies -ALL EQUIPMENT. Remarkable, but it was efforts like this from soldiers like Charles Holman that won World War II and preserved our freedoms. Charles was promoted to Major, US Army at age 28. He returned to the USA in June 1945. In November 1945 he was relieved from active duty and returned to PPG in Milwaukee, Wisconsin as a Chemical Engineer in the Coating and Resins Division. Charlie and Priscilla welcomed two twin boys, Donald and David into their family in July 1947. Also in 1947 he supervised a Synthetic Resins Pilot Plant and designed and constructed a new Synthetic Resins Plant at Springdale, Pennsylvania. Charles became Assistant Manager of PPG’s Newark, New Jersey Coatings and Resins Plant in 1948 and in the following year became Manager of PPG’s Atlanta, Georgia factory. The next year he was promoted to Technical Director of the Coatings and Resins Division and in 1951 became Manager of the Springdale, Pennsylvania factory. In 1952, Charles was promoted to Vice President of Manufacturing and Engineering for PPG’s Coatings and Resins Division at the Company’s headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Under Charlie’s leadership Polyester Resin Fiberglass was developed and successfully marketed. Charlie owned the very first fishing rod and boat made of this new resin. Charlie retired from PPG in 1969 after a very successful and rewarding career. However, his business career was far from over. He immediately went to work for Reichhold Chemical Company as their Vice President of Manufacturing and Engineering. Charlie was responsible for 40 production facilities worldwide. In 1972 he became a Director of the Company. In 1975 Charlie retired for the second time. However, Charles was still not done with his career in business. After 6 months of leisure he was wooed back by Crawford and Russell, a worldwide design and construction company in Stamford, Connecticut. Charlie’s expertise was needed to manage the design and build out of a Synthetic Resins Plant for Continental Can Company in Bay City, Texas. In January 1980, Charlie moved to Houston, Texas as Project Manager. Sadly, in March of 1982, Charlie’s wife Priscilla died, after 43 years of marriage. Although devastated by this loss he continued the management of designing the Bay City plant which was completed in June after which Charlie returned to Connecticut. During the next several months Charlie became acquainted with Lucille (Lucy) White who had also worked on the Bay City task force. In June 1983 the two were married. In 1985 Charlie retired from Crawford and Russell and he and Lucy moved back to Texas locating on Lake Conroe north of Houston. They built a house with a boat slip that was also near a gun club. Two of Charlie’s interests were fishing and skeet shooting. Over the next several years Charlie honed his skeet shooting skill and taught Lucy how to shoot as well. He won veteran gun championships in 10 states totaling 262 wins. Among those were 15 World titles and 13 Mini-World championships. Charlie made 10 All-American teams, 2 as captain and 10 consecutive Texas All-State teams including 2 as captain. As a senior veteran he was named to 5 consecutive All-American teams including 4 as captain. He was also captain of five Texas All-State teams. In 2005 he became the first and only “Super Veteran” (90+ years) skeet shooter. Also in 2005 for his 90th birthday his two sons gave him a Safari in Africa where he took 8 trophies, 5 of them with one shot. In 2011, at the age of 95, Charlie retired from shooting. Charlie shot over 250,000 targets in registered skeet events during his skeet career even though it didn’t start in earnest until he was in his 60’s. He always believed that it was “more important to have fun and enjoy our many skeet shooting friends, and let the chips fall where they may. If we happen to win something, that’s great, but it’s not a requirement.” This is not to say that Charlie wasn’t competitive, just that he put winning secondary to being a good sportsman and helping others. He was driven to be the best that he could be. In fact, almost to the day he died he made sure that the first thing he did each morning was a regiment of the Royal Canadian Air Force exercises. This partially explains how he became the patriarch of the Holman family and the oldest Holman ever. This was the record he was most proud of. Charlie was a great story teller and had a way of drawing you into his tales of adventure so that you could experience the journey with him. His tales of hunting a ferocious Bengal Tiger in India during World War II or pursuing a magnificent bull Moose in the wilds of Canada are famous. In fact, these true stories got better every time he told them. Charlie also created Chief Thing-A-Ma-Bob nature tales which he told at campfires to his sons during frequent summer campouts in Canada. His stories will be told and retold thus continuing his life forever. Charlie was also an Eagle Scout and a Scout Master for many years. He was extremely proud of his son David and grandson Karl who also attained the rank of Eagle Scout. Charlie is survived by his beloved wife of 31 years, Lucy, brother Herbert A. Holman, son Donald B. Holman, 4 grandchildren: David B. Holman, Karl J. Holman, Christina N. (Nicolette) Holman, and Chelsea E. Holman; 2 great- grandsons: Zachary B. Holman, Jacob A. Holman; 1 great granddaughter Charlotte E. (Charlie) Holman; and 3 step children: Dianne E. Sales, Nanci E. Turner, and George W. White, along with 7 step grandchildren and 6 step great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents, Charles F. and Emma R. Holman; 2 brothers, Robert C. Holman and Richard H. Holman; 2 sisters, Priscilla Holman (Monahan) and Eleanor Holman (Papano); 2 sons, Charles R. Holman Jr and David W. Holman; and 1 grandson, Brian D. Holman. A memorial service will take place on Saturday, August 9, 2014, 2:00pm, at Sam Houston Memorial Funeral Home, 20850 Eva St (aka Hwy 105 West), Montgomery, TX 77356, phone number 936-597-7300. A reception with refreshments will follow at the KOA, Landmark Center, 19785 Hwy 105 West, Montgomery, TX 77356, phone number 936-582-1200. A local florist, if desired, is Pecan Hill Florist, phone number 936-597-4060, or donations can be made to a charity of your choice. You are invited to leave memorial condolence messages on our website at www.shmfh.com