Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 9, 1994 TAG: 9408090118
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By MELISSA DeVAUGHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Long
To Rosa Holmes and her friends, Zimri Holmes was the perfect educator. He taught school, was a Boy Scout leader and was active in his church. He also taught adult education courses.
So when educators needed a name for the new elementary school in Blacksburg, it's no wonder "Holmes Elementary School" was one of the suggestions.
However, many people in Montgomery County never knew Zimri Holmes or had a class with the black educator who taught for years in segregated schools before finally moving to Blacksburg High School as one of its first black teachers.
They never knew the man whom his principal and friend Curtis Gray described as quiet - "he didn't speak much, but when he did everybody listened." They never knew the dedicated teacher who only missed two days of school in 43 years of teaching.
The School Board eventually named the new school - after much public debate - for two of the county's best known teachers, sisters Mae and Florence "Pat" Kipps.
But friends of Zimri Holmes remain undaunted. While they have no problem with the new school being named after the Kipps sisters - the two are a legend among their students - Holmes supporters want to see the black educator memorialized in some way.
Oscar Williams, local president of the NAACP, said he plans to ask the Montgomery County School Board either to rename a county school or name a section of the new Kipps School in Holmes' memory at its Aug. 16 meeting in Kipps Elementary School.
From her small, neat brick home on a street named after her husband's family, Rosa Holmes described her husband, Zimri, who died suddenly in 1989.
He was born to be a teacher, she said.
"He didn't have to say anything to the kids - he just looked at them."
"I think he demanded respect and he got it," added 77-year-old Nathan Holmes, Zimri's younger brother. "He was an excellent disciplinarian, and he also liked the students, so it was a mutual respect."
Although Rosa Holmes was excited to hear supporters were urging a school be named for her husband, "I really didn't think it would amount to anything.
"I expected the other teachers had been here longer, but it was nice for someone to consider Zimri," she added. "I liked the idea because his students praised him to high heaven."
The two met when Rosa Holmes was in the eighth grade. He was a tall, handsome fellow who didn't act silly like the other boys, she said. He was quiet and reserved, but knew how to have fun.
"When I first saw him, I knew he was the person I was going to marry," she said.
Holmes, now 80, described their 48-year marriage as unusual - the courtship lasted for nearly 15 years.
"We were very happy. Whenever [Zimri] went to the store or the barbershop, he always wanted me to go with him. We did everything together."
Rosa Holmes, who also taught elementary and middle school until she retired in 1978, said she and Zimri enjoyed talking, working crossword puzzles, reading and most of all - traveling.
"We had our summers free to travel and we'd go as far as California," Holmes said with a smile. "We've been to 15 or 16 states, and we had planned to go to Canada the year [Zimri] passed."
Zimri Holmes taught school in a time riddled with uncertainty. White and black students attended separate schools and ate in separate restaurants. There were "colored-only" sections - small balconies overlooking the regular seating - at the Lyric Theater in downtown Blacksburg, and the Palace Theater in Christiansburg. Blacks took a back seat on buses.
Through it all though, Rosa Holmes said she and her husband had few problems. Zimri taught at the Hill School in Cambria, a black elementary school, then later moved to the all-black Christiansburg Institute where he taught government and social studies.
Zimri was assigned to Blacksburg High School in 1965 - integration had begun in the county in 1961. He and Joe Smith, who taught industrial arts, were the only black teachers at the school.
"We didn't have any problems with integration," Rosa Holmes said. "It wasn't bad. The students didn't seem as interested in their classes and neither did their parents, but I think that's because of the times, not because of integration."
Zimri Holmes echoed those same sentiments when interviewed for a 1975 article on his retirement:
"Since I've been in integrated schools, I've found that things have gone along very smoothly. All the parents, students, principals - everybody - were very cooperative."
Gray, a Blacksburg resident who was principal at Blacksburg High School from 1961 until 1973, said Zimri Holmes was simply "an outstanding Christian gentleman.
"He came from the Christiansburg Institute and I'm sure it was difficult, but nevertheless I didn't see the difficulties," Gray said. "He never showed it. He taught boys and girls, not races."
Gray said some of the veteran history teachers would comment about the things Zimri Holmes taught in his history classes.
"They said they saw things on his bulletin boards that they didn't even know occurred," Gray said. "His knowledge and background and preparation was immense."
Gray said naming the new school after the Kipps sisters was an excellent move, but added, "we shouldn't stop there - all schools should have special names.
"What could be more encouraging to a budding teacher than to name a school - or a part of a school - after an outstanding teacher from the community?" he asked.
Gray cited two examples - the athletic field at Blacksburg Middle School, named after former coach and teacher Bill Brown, as well as the "Billy Stanger Vocational Wing" at Blacksburg High School.
The local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People plans to make a presentation seeking such an honor for Holmes at the Aug. 16 School Board meeting.
Zimri Holmes
Birthplace: In Montgomerty County at Cambria in 1909.
Family: Parents, Nathan and Flora Holmes; three brothers, two sisters. Married to Rosa Holmes, also of Cambria. The couple had one child, who died as an infant.
Education: Cambria Hill School and Christiansburg Institute. His undergraduate and master's degrees are from Virginia State College. He later attended Fisk University, Hampton Institute and Virginia Tech.
Military Service: More than three years in the U.S. Air Force during World War II.
Work: Holmes' first teaching job was in a one-room schoolhouse in Grayson County. The year was 1930. He later taught at his alma maters - the Hill School and Christiansburg Institute. After desegregation, Holmes moved to Blacksburg High School where he taught for nearly 10 years before retiring.
by CNB