Paul B Holliday

His funeral service will be at 11 a.m. Friday, September 7, 2012 at Spring Garden Friends Meeting, where he was a member. Interment will follow at Guilford Memorial Park and the family will visit with friends Thursday, September 6, 2012 at the Hanes-Lineberry Vanstory Chapel from 7 p.m. 9 p.m.

Paul was born February 19, 1920 in Greensboro, North Carolina. Being raised in the neighborhood of Pomona, he attended Pomona High School and began working at an early age in the local cotton mill. In his late teens he met the love of his life, Edith Reynolds and on their first date asked her to marry him. She agreed after a three year courtship in 1942.

He was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1943. After training, he was part of the first wave of soldiers to land on Utah Beach, Normandy France on the morning of June 6, 1944 D-Day. Assigned to Headquarters Company he was a jeep driver for the Generals including Brig. General Theodore Roosevelt II as well as famous war correspondent Ernie Pyle. During the march to Berlin, Paul was wounded twice and received two Purple Hearts and several field commendations.

After returning home to North Carolina with his bride, he began his occupation as a shoe cobbler. He built and established Holliday Shoe Repair where he hired and trained several young men in the Greensboro area. In 1954, he built Holliday Hardware next door to the shoe repair on Spring Garden Street just a few hundred feet from where he raised his three children Bill, Polly and Keith. Paul was a Christian father who instilled those values in his children at Spring Garden Friends Meeting.

After semi-retirement in his mid-fifties Paul and his wife Edith began traveling around the world. Never completely retired due to his strong work ethic, Paul continued to support his son and daughter as they carried on the family businesses until the age of 89. Paul loved the outdoors and was an avid fisherman and hunter until his mid-eighties excelling in skeet shooting and amassing many awards.

Paul always took pride in his service to his country and in his sixties became very involved in the Veteran of Foreign Wars (VFW) where he led Post 11533 and diligently served in the Post Honor Guard for fallen veterans he participated in over 400 funeral programs.

Paul was preceded in death by his parents, wife Edith Reynolds Holliday, brother Robert Holliday and granddaughter Camberly Holliday.

Left to carry on Paul's memory are William (Bill) Holliday (Diane); Paula (Polly) Holliday Crum (Gary); and Keith Holliday (Cynthia); as well as seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Special thanks and appreciation goes to his two nieces, Joyce Pinnix and Judy Garrett, his caregivers, Cindy Burnett, Marsha Dunn, and Joyce Taylor, and to the healthcare providers at the Cone Health system, as well as Drs. Scott Nadel and James Hochrein.

While Paul waits for his family to join him in heaven, we will continue to remember this strong, ethical, moral and Christian man who was a husband, father, grandfather, business person and friend to everyone he met.

Memorials may be made to the Disabled American Veterans, 236 East Washington Street, Greensboro, NC 27401.

Online condolences may be made at www.haneslineberryfuneralhomes.com.