Papa

Elmer “Jack” Holleyman was born the 5th of 6 children on November 22nd, 1934 to Willie and Veta Holleyman in Morton, TX. He was preceded in death by his parents, two sisters, one brother and one great granddaughter. He is survived by his wife Connie of Lubbock, son Wendell Conway of Odessa, son Steve Conway of Lubbock, daughter Jill Holleyman Jackson of Allen, TX, a sister Nadine Taylor of Lubbock, a brother James Holleyman of Levelland, 9 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren. Jack was a Christian and he gave his life to The Lord and was baptized as a child. He was a member of Trinity Baptist Church in Lubbock for more than 35 years. As a young man, Jack worked in the cotton fields around Morton with his brother James, hoeing weeds and doing other farm related work. When he got older he had one of his favorite jobs; working in the movie theater. He often talked about his times working in the movie theater and how great he thought the job was. The one task he hated though was when he had to clean the popcorn machine! After high school, Jack joined the US Navy where he was assigned to the construction battalion known as the Seabees. He was pretty mechanically inclined by nature so he thought this was a perfect fit for him; and for the most part he enjoyed the work. During his 4 enlistments in the Navy, Jack had the opportunity to travel to many places across the United States and the world. These experiences caused him to be a bit of a “reluctant traveler” and he would often say “I’ve already been there”; of course Connie reminded him how LONG it had actually been since his last visit! During his later years, he decided to give travel another try and even took two cruises to the Caribbean and the Bahamas with Rhett and Jill. There was one place that Jack had travelled to however, that was BY FAR his least favorite ……Vietnam. Jack did two tours in Vietnam; the first tour split between Dong Ha and Da Nang and the 2nd tour in Khe Sanh. His Seabees group was stationed with the US Marines when they were surrounded and badly outnumbered by the enemy during the Battle of Khe Sanh. In his words the situation was “touch and go”. Although he didn’t talk with very many people about his war time experiences, Jack was very proud of his Navy service as well as the country he served. On June 4th, 1962 Jack married Connie Conway. They raised 3 children together and were married just 17 days short of 50 years. They spent their entire married life together in Lubbock and he retired after 30 years of working for the Lubbock Independent School District in facilities maintenance. In retirement, he enjoyed being actively involved in church, taking his dog Sam on long walks, taking care of his and his neighbor’s yard, talking to Jill, Holley and Alesha on his “pocket phone”, his weekly Saturday trips with Connie to “Buns Over Texas”, visiting Rhett, Jill and the girls in Dallas…..and THE WEATHER. Jack loved to watch the Weather Channel and would often call just to tell how much rain they had or had not recently received in Lubbock or to ask about the weather somewhere else. Jack was a patient and loyal husband, father, PaPa and friend and during his life he left a positive influence on the lives of many, many people. He will truly be missed.