Ricky Alvin Holmes

Ricky Alvin Holmes was born on March 31, 1954 to Norma and James Holmes in Fresno, California. He was born into a family of two older siblings, James and Carolyn, and would have a younger brother David and sister Amron follow him. All his siblings are still alive, save Jimmy, who passed away from cancer in 2019. All of the siblings say that dad was a happy young innocent boy who loved life. We all would see that childlike joy come out of him at different times, but he struggled with the idea of joy the older he got. The only joy he said he had was in his family. Dad was a man torn between two worlds. He has written in the front of his Bible, Isaiah 57:1-2, “The righteous man perishes, and no man takes it to heart; And devout men are taken away, while no one understands. For the righteous man is taken away from evil, he enters into peace; They rest in their beds, each one who walked in his upright way.” This excerpt of Scripture defines dad’s internal struggle well. He did not understand why the righteous man suffered and died in this world and he even pondered why seemingly God was the orchestrator of such things. This obituary is a small picture into who he was and his life. Sadly, he wasn’t yet two years of age when his father passed away in a car wreck with his mistress in the car. Dad carried this deep wound for all of his days. He was perturbed at the love he believed his father must’ve had for him, his son, and why he would’ve died in the midst of compromise, even sin itself. He was more mystified at why his father would betray his mother in that way. One of his favorite photos is a picture of his dad holding him, but you can’t see his dad’s face. This reminded him of his heavenly father and he longed to see His face more than anything else for all of his life. He is now. After his father’s passing, his mother married Stephen Ennis, a Church of Christ pastor. While many of the details of their upbringing aren’t discussed, the siblings agree that Stephen was overall a good father and husband to Norma, despite being somewhat of a religious bible-beater. Dad told us the story of Stephen making them knock on doors to give out Christian tracts to strangers in Canada, something our dad hated. Some of those things became laughable later in life, forgiven, and many just written off as the way Stephen was. Still, dad’s journey with God did begin in their home with Stephen and dad continued this journey, not without great trial, anger, shouting, and love, to the end of his life. He loved Stephen until his passing. But his true love was his mother Norma. Dad loved Norma deeply and was close with her. It impacted him greatly to see his mother pass away from pancreatic cancer in 1989, and it plagued him that he couldn’t call her anymore. This was a devastating event for him and the event by which mom defines the increase of dad’s internal struggle that magnified his deep-seated anger. Dad was angry at God usually and he was often mad at death, whom he often personified, and spoke to. There were times we heard him say, “Oh yeah? Well come and get me you bastard!” speaking to Death. Dad’s challenge to death speaks to how big his balls were. He was not afraid of anything, and he particularly wasn’t afraid to stand up for what was right. He was a man that avoided conflict at all cost, but if someone was wronging someone else, he would confront it head on without fear. Before his mother passed he had met the fairest and purest woman (his words) that he had ever met, Vickie Lynn. There were always plenty of jokes from their friends about their rhyming names. One thing is for certain, Vickie was the only woman that could have ever loved Ricky the way Ricky needed to be loved. She was faithful to him for 47 years, cooking, and serving his every need without complaint (just kidding… a lot of complaints but she made it through!)! Her main identification of dad is that, “He was very generous. He cared about others more than himself. He would always give whatever he had away, even if we were the ones in need of it.” Dad was also faithful to their marriage covenant until the end. We are proud of them and they are an example to all. Our years with him, his kids, were 41(Stephen), 39(Jeremy), 28(Cynthia), 24(Hannah). While we all have our own stories of dad, we would say that dad loved us as best as he could. It wasn’t perfect, he had his shortcomings, but he really did love us. He was also always available no matter if it was the middle of the night - something his sons at least tested on many occasions, which we will not mention further at this time. During our lives his occupations were: an aircraft mechanic, a certified flight instructor, an ag pilot (crop-duster), and a painter. Before those occupations dad served in the U.S. Airforce as an aircraft mechanic and was medically discharged after breaking his back in a motorcycle accident behind the airforce base. He said, “I was on a path I hadn’t been on before and going really fast. Suddenly, out of nowhere there was a giant ditch which a river had cut, but it was dry and about 12 ft deep and 12 ft across. There was nothing I could do except gun it, and hope to jump it.” He did not jump it, but he almost did. This back injury slowly debilitated dad throughout his life and made him 60% disabled through the veterans hospital. Despite this injury, one thing dad loved was cycling, which he said actually made his back feel better. Dad’s longest ride was 60 miles, but he frequently rode 40 miles daily on and off for the last 20 years. He had many friends out at White Rock Lake of which Bill was his closest. He only wished Bill wouldn’t talk as much as he did. He adored his grandkids with such love and loved seeing pictures of them. The last time he opened his eyes was to see his grandkids the day before he passed. He hated all animals, he said, but loved them in secret and we would find him talking adoringly to them when no one was looking. He was an avid Trump supporter and thought Joe Biden needed a 9 ½ Red Wing boot put up his @$$. One of dad’s last phrases, when asked if he was afraid to die or not, was, “Nope… not at all. It wasn’t perfect but everything is covered under the blood of Jesus!” Dad’s faith was real, broken, extremely vulnerable, with no BS in it. He avidly read the Scriptures and believed in them wholeheartedly. He cared for the Jewish people and believed they were God’s chosen people. He wished he had visited Israel before he got sick and that was one of the only regrets we heard him vocalize. That bastard death came for him, and finally got him, but this death will not have the final word because Jesus overcame death so that dad will live again. He is now beholding Jesus with his eyes and we look forward to the day we see him descend in a resurrected body when Jesus returns. His back will be straight. His grief will be turned into joy. The innocence taken from him as a kid will be restored. Dad finished his race, now we have to finish ours.

Family requests guest wear casual attire to the services.

A funeral service for Ricky will be held Thursday, October 3, 2024 at 10:00 AM at Grove Hill Funeral Home, 3920 Samuell Blvd, Dallas, Texas 75228. Following the funeral service will be a committal service at 11:30 AM at Grove Hill Memorial Park, 3920 Samuell Blvd, Dallas, Texas 75228.