Herbert S. Holmes Jr.

Herbert Shepherd Holmes, Jr. "Herby", of Falmouth Foreside and life-time resident of the Mere Point Colony of Brunswick, died Thursday July 14th, 2011 at Falmouth-By-The-Sea, surrounded by the love of his immediate family. He had endured complications from a stroke suffered in March of 2003.

He was born March 13, 1927 in Boston, MA, one of two sons to Herbert Shepherd Holmes, Sr and Catharine Rollins Brown Holmes, of Hudson, MA. In 1937, he and his family moved to Portland, Maine, where he attended local schools before his enrollment at the Choate School in Wallingford, CT.

During WW II, he served in United States Navy in the Philippines. He was assigned to a landing craft, and, as he was one of the few who had grown up on the water, and with his ability to drive a boat, was named bo‘sun of his ship. Following the war, he graduated from Hebron Academy, in 1947, and attended Bowdoin College.

Mr. Holmes joined his father in business, in 1950, at the old Cressey and Allen, a venture that evolved into Commercial Distributors, a longtime fixture of old downtown Portland. He was named President of Commercial Distributors in 1972, and worked there with his late brother Jack and nephew John, the latter of whom he treated and thought of as his own.

His responsibilities and initiatives, both civic and corporate, were numerous and varied: Chairman of the Falmouth Republican Town Committee; President and Advising Trustee of the Falmouth Memorial Library; Secretary of Pine Grove Cemetery; Trustee of Hebron Academy; Board member at Skillins Greenhouse; Board member of KeyBank; and as both President and member of the Board of Trustees of First Parish Church, which he had attended since childhood; and a Director of The Camp Fire Girls.

In addition, Mr. Holmes served as the President of The Sea Point Land Company, the controlling entity for his cherished summer home community, Mere Point Colony, where his family maintains the summer home he so adored. (He also co-owned a camp on Lake Sebago with his brother through the late 1980’s, and, with scores of cousins, shared 360-acre Pond Island at the mouth of Narraguagus Bay, near Milbridge, ME.) Also, a long-time volunteer with the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau on the Portland waterfront.

Mr. Holmes was a longtime member of the Portland Yacht Club, the Portland Country Club and the Cumberland Club, where he served as President. Additionally, his membership in the Know-Nothings, an informal weekly gathering of retired community leaders, gave him great satisfaction.

He is survived by his beloved wife Bettsanne Norris Holmes; two adoring daughters, Bethany Holmes Frank of Washington, D.C. and Heather Holmes Floyd of Waban, MA; two sons-in-law, William Henry Floyd III and J. Lanier Frank; grandchildren (five) Shepherd Adams Frank, Hannah Holmes Floyd, Campbell Lanier Frank, William Henry Floyd, IV and Herbert Norris Douglass Floyd; a cherished nephew John Porter Holmes, Jr (and spouse, Jaci) of Yarmouth; sister-in-law Beth Norris Holmes of Portland, two brothers-in-law The Honorable Chester Norris (Ulla) of Lemoine, ME and Naples, FL, John Norris (Nancy) of Carabassett, ME,; four nieces; and two nephews (another, Paul Loughin, died in 1989).

A service of celebration will be held Friday, August 5th at the Mere Point Colony Yacht Club (74 East Marginal Way in Brunswick Maine) at 3 p.m. Interment will be private at Pine Grove Cemetery, Falmouth.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that any donations be made to the First Parish Church, Memorial Garden Fund, 425 Congress Street, Portland, ME or Falmouth Memorial Library, 5 Lunt Road, Falmouth, ME.

Arrangements by Jones, Rich and Hutchins Funeral Home, Portland, ME.

Please visit www.jonesrichandhutchins.com for additional information and to sign Mr. Holmes guest book.