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Linda Holt graduated from MHS in 1961. James Moorehead graduated with the Class of 1956.

At our April 2007 McDonald family reunion in Texarkana, AR, I acquired the attached picture of James and me from a cousin. It was taken in April 1963, we THINK. It HAS to be from either April '62 or '63, taken at Mother's McDonald family reunion in Atlanta, TX. We dated the picture by our 1961 Chrysler in the background (cropped out) and we were in Seattle in April '61 and '62 and in 1964 were driving the '64 Thunderbird convertible. I honestly didn't remember EVER looking that slender since I was about 12 years old! I remember the dress... a baby blue, cream and gold polished cotton that I think I bought from Vivian's. It was definitely from there, The Style Shop, Lillian Lary's or Simmons' as I went back to Minden from New Orleans to buy my clothes. Those wonderful sales ladies, like Mrs. Mendenhall, Joan Branch, Mrs. Rushing, etc., knew just what I liked and knew how to get me to buy everything! :-) I was known in the family as a "clothes horse" in those days!

That reminds me of another story of which Mother always reminded me and it was true! Sometimes Lillian Lary's would telephone Mother at the record shop to tell me to come look at a dress they thought I would like or that would look good on me and such. Mother would call me to town and I'd go find several that I liked and they would insist that I take them to the record shop and try them on for Mother. They KNEW... Mother could NEVER make up her mind which I should take back and I rarely took a single dress back to the store! Mother wasn't duped by anyone... she knew she couldn't send back any dress that we liked and thought was becoming to me.

Clara Holt taken Easter, 1959

I'm attaching another picture from April 1952 when I was 9 years old. It was taken at another McDonald family reunion but in Vivian, LA, Don's and my hometown. Daddy never lived in Minden as Mother and I moved there to be near Don and his family when Daddy passed away in Texas but some will remember mother (I HOPE!) from Don's Record Shoppe.

Clara Essie McDonald Holt
Birth: Jul. 1, 1911
Bivins
Cass County
Texas, USA
Death: Nov. 25, 2004
New Orleans
Orleans Parish
Louisiana, USA

Clara McDonald Holt passed away at 7:00 AM Thanksgiving morning, November 25, 2004, at Ferncrest Manor in New Orleans, Louisiana. Mrs. Holt was born July 1, 1911, in Bivins, TX., and was preceded in death in 1931 by one infant child, Edward Charles, and her husband, Ernest CARL Holt, in 1958. She was the last surviving child or spouse of the many children of her parents, Eliza Grinder (Thayer Yates) and Charlie G. McDonald of Bivins, Texas.

Clara married Carl Holt at the age of 17 and they ran a small store/service station out near Snow Hill and he also worked in the oil fields. They lost one son at 5 days of age in 1931 and then had Don in 1934 and Linda in 1943.

In 1944 Carl and Clara moved to Byrd Street in Vivian, LA, and were still faithful members of Walnut Hill Baptist Church until Mr. Holt transferred to Brownsville, Texas, when the Stanolind refinery closed in 1955. They were later transferred to Alvin, Texas, where Carl passed away in 1958. Clara and her teenage daughter, Linda, moved to be near her son, Don, in Minden, LA, where she bought and ran a music store, Don's Record Shoppe, until her retirement. Since retirement she has lived in Minden, LA., Tuscaloosa, AL, and New Orleans, LA. She was a member of Suburban Baptist Church in New Orleans.

Clara had a quick, dry wit and loved to laugh and have fun. Her teenage customers at the record shop loved to teach her the latest dances, mostly during their lunch breaks from the nearby high school. She had written radio commercials in the early 1950s and loved to write poetry. She had also given Dr. Pepper their slogan, "The friendly pepper-upper" in a contest in the 1940s, I think it was.
She is much loved and is greatly missed.

Mrs. Holt is survived by one son, Don O'Dell Holt and wife, Lynda Ann, of Northport, Alabama; one daughter, Linda Carleen Holt and husband, James Moorehead, of New Orleans; Grandmother of 8. Don's Children...Donna Jo Holt Wise of Tuscaloosa, AL, Karen Renea Holt Potter of Pittsburgh, PA, Gary Parke Holt and wife, Tina, and Mark Alan Holt and wife Kristy, Lisa Ann Holt Campbell and husband, Greg, all of Tuscaloosa, AL. Grandmother of Linda's children...Michael David Moorehead of Rockville, MD, and Tara Michele Moorehead of Duluth, GA. Great Grandmmother of 8; Great Great Grandmother of 3 at time of death on Thanksgiving Day, 2004.

POEM OF DEATH

When I am gone, release me, let me go.
I have so many things to see and do.
You mustn't tie yourself to me, with tears.
Be happy that we had so many years.
I gave you my love, you can only guess,
how much you gave me in happiness.
I thank you for the love, you each have shown,
but now it's time that I travel alone.

So grieve for awhile, if grieve you must.
Then let your grief be comforted by trust.
It's only for awhile, that we must part.
So bless the precious memories within your heart.
I won't be far away, for life goes on.
If you need me call and I will come,
though you can't see, or touch me, I'll be near.
If you listen with your heart
you'll hear all of my love around you, soft and clear.
When you must come this way alone,
I'll greet you with a smile and welcome you home.

Burial:
Walnut Hill Cemetery
Vivian
Caddo Parish
Louisiana, USA

Record added: Jun 14 2002
By: Linda Moorehead