Obituary

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Brian Frank Holman  died peacefully on 4th May 2011 in Bournemouth. 
Obituary
Brian Frank Holman was born on the 19th January 1930, the second son of Harold Hubert Holman and Katie Anna Shimmen-Burch in Basingstoke, in the pre-war time when it was a small market town.


The Holman family had originally hailed from the villages of Norfolk (for most of the nineteenth century in Gressenhall), but Brian's grandfather (James Charles) had moved with his young family to Basingstoke via Lincolnshire.      Harold worked as an engineer, including service in the fledgling Royal Flying Corps in World War One helping to keep Sopwith Pups and Camel bi-planes in the air over London and the trenches of Northern France.
Conversely, Brian's mothers family had spent generations on the coast of Woodbridge in Suffolk as sailors (perhaps adding a touch of Turkish blood to the family) and associated industries before her own father (a malster, who briefly fought in the Boer War with the Suffolk Regiment), also migrating with his family to Basingstoke.
Harold and Katie were married in Basingstoke during the autumn of 1927 and were to spend the rest of their lives there.


Early Life

Brothers Ken and Brian

Brian had many happy memories of his time in Basingstoke, fondly recalling cycling as a child throughout the rolling hills of north Hampshire with freedom that most modern children could never imagine.
Basingstoke wasn't badly impacted by World War Two, although there was the drama of a few local bombs including one that shattered a window in their house over his younger sister Hazel, and a few dogfights in the air to create excitement.
However, Harold managed to combine time working in the local engineering plant of Thornycroft with volunteer work as a fireman during the evenings of the blitz as far away as London.


Working Life
After the war, both Brian and his elder brother, Ken,  went to sea as part of their National Service; Ken entering the Royal Navy, whilst Brian joined the Royal Marines.

Brian aged 21

Although he didn't take part in any of the small wars that marked his time of service (1948-1950), the Marines gave him the opportunity to see many different parts of the world (including Portugal, Korea, Kenya and Japan) and perhaps inspired his post-service wanderlust that was to take him to Canada (where he worked in the oil industry), USA and eventually Australia and South Africa.
By this stage, he was working as a Medical Physicist for the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, witnessing some of the last above-ground atomic bomb tests in the antipodes.
Eventually, he returned to England, and back to Basingstoke, now commuting to AWRE's new offices in Aldermaston.

Courtship

Brian's role was to help ensure the safety of those working with radioactive materials, and although he was typically modest (and security concious) about the nature of his work he did mention that he had pulled a colleague to safety from what was thought to be a highly contaminated room (although thankfully wasn't).


It was in Basingstoke that he met and married Johannah Kavanagh, a young nurse from Waterford in Ireland - although in 1960 the sight of a six foot three Church-of-England ex-Marine and a somewhat shorter Roman Catholic would have been quite unusual !

1st October 1960

Being part of a "mixed marriage", the Children  (Paul, Tim and Judith) were also raised as Catholics, and so although Brian was a lapsed Anglican he spent the rest of his life on the periphery of the Catholic church, including many hours of conversations with the local priests in enjoyable debate (often in the local pub) about Religion!

With the Irish Family

As was the norm in the 1960s and '70s, most holidays were spent in the British isles, although with the family's Irish connections normally a few weeks each Summer would be spent in New Ross and on the beaches of Waterford and Wexford.

Newly Wed in New Ross

As the children grew older, these holidays extended to France in an attempt to improve language skills, and a favourite family story is of Brian carefully reciting his prepared French to buy tickets for the Bayeux Tapestry, whilst the ticket seller responded to each question in perfect English.


Retirement
Perhaps as a result, when it was time to retire (as was possible in those days at the age of 60),  Brian and Nancy (as Johannah preferred to be called) designed a new place to live overlooking the seas of Tramore in Ireland.
Although they were happy there, with many walks along the coastal paths and the ability to meet with their Irish family, after a few years they decided to return to England, this time to the coastal town of Bournemouth, perhaps because this had been where they had spent their honeymoon in 1960, perhaps also because of the local airports that allowed them to spend many weeks each year in their favourite hotel in Spain as well as with their children (firstly Judith, later Tim) who had set up their homes in the USA.


By maintaining a fit and active lifestyle, with healthy eating and daily walks along the coast, Brian's retirement was generally free of health problems - with the exception of a brain haemorrhage in the summer of 2000, which was attributed to some extent by smoking.


Brian was rushed to Royal Bournemouth and then to Southampton Hospital for surgery, and although he was on the verge of death, he was able to survive thanks to this surgery, although it would take many months to recover.         The only positive outcome was that this time allowed him to go "cold turkey" and to stop smoking !  

Tim & Jenny's wedding in Waggoner, IL

Nevertheless, the haemorrhage had cost him his peripheral vision (and thus his ability to drive), and for the rest of his life he was happy that he had made the decision to move to Bournemouth which was easy to walk around and with plentiful free bus services for "OAPs".


Even into his late 70s, Brian and Nancy continued to travel internationally, now travelling not only most years to St Louis (to see Judith,  Ken and their children Becca and Matthew) but now Burlingame in California (at the age of 80 to stay with Tim, Jenny and their first child Jemimah).
Indeed, he and Nancy had planned to travel to their favourite Spanish hotel in Mid-May for a few weeks, with another Mediterranean cruise being discussed.

January with Cora and Des

Brian also kept alert mentally, always with a number of fiction and non-fiction books being read in parallel, in addition to being a daily user of both his home computer and iPad.        He also loved a good conversation, and would enjoy discussing politics or religion as well as his love of athletics (with plans to attend London 2012 Olympics) and rugby.

81st Birthday Party in Westbourne

As is the case with modern families, even Paul's family (with Wife Niki and children Amelia and Miranda) was a few hours away in St. Albans, but they would regularly take coaches to visit or host visits from their growing number of grandchildren.


It was the day after the final visit from Tim on Monday 2nd May 2011 that the spectre of an aneurysm rose again, and once again Brian was rushed to Royal Bournemouth Hospital.
This time, the injury was inoperable, and he never awoke, dying peacefully in his sleep in the early hours of Wednesday 4th May.


He is survived by his loving wife Nancy, with whom he enjoyed fifty years of happy marriage (with never an argument according to Nancy)  as a lifelong friend and companion.


He will be sorely missed by all who knew him.


Funeral
The funeral service took place on Thursday 19th May at Bournemouth North Cemetery on Strouden Avenue (BH8 9HX).

In addition, a Votive Mass was said for Brian at the Sacred Heart (Bournemouth) on Saturday 21st May.

Instead of  flowers, please give to charity: http://www.justgiving.com/brianholman is available for those who would like to donate to combat cancer (which has affected many of Brian and Nancy's friends and family).

Paul's Eulogy

The first definition of “Father” in the “Oxford English Dictionary” is “a male animal in relation to its offspring”.        However, when thinking of Dad, a secondary definition is a man who provides “care and protection” seems to me a better starting point.

Dad was certainly that, and much more.

We were blessed with a most wonderful childhood, and Dad would be always on hand to school us in the ways of conkers, help us grapple with our homework, or to be on hand to make comments about any new pop group that appeared on “Top of the Pops”.

Looking back, I can only strive to be a good a father as our Dad – not for him were nights out at the pub, or weekends playing golf – his focus was always on us and our needs.

However, he was more than just a fantastic parent – he was a true friend who was quick to treat us as equals, and with me loved to debate the political events of the day, or the foolishness of war from his progressive liberal standpoint even when I was probably only ten!

He also gave me a love of books, famously in his youth he attempted to read the entire contents of the local library and although I struggle to read as many as he was able to consume, even to the end, we would swap books to read and discuss - and one of those small sorrows that have filled the last week was to see that he had started to read the last book I’d completed, but that we’d never had the chance to chew over together.

As our Uncle Des, summed it up - “Brian Holman wasn't just my sister's husband - he was a great friend for over 50 years, a man with whom conversation was always easy and interesting and whose company I enjoyed. I'll miss him greatly.”

I’m privileged to have my father as my friend, and will miss him in a way that I really can’t express in words alone.

Tim's Eulogy

Jude's Eulogy