Ms. Rebecca S. Holm

Age: 96

Northport Funeral & Cremation Service family extends our warmest condolences and heartfelt sympathies to the family of Ms. Rebecca Searcy Holm. Ms. Holm passed away in Northport, AL on Saturday, December 2, 2023. A private service will be held.

From her humble beginnings in 1927 as the daughter of sharecroppers in the Mississippi Delta to her humble conclusion as the adored matriarch of four children, thirteen grandchildren, and twenty-one great-grandchildren, Rebecca Elizabeth Searcy Holm was on a long and full journey. She died peacefully on December 2, 2023. There were many constants in her life. 

The importance of education was instilled in her early, and she felt lucky to have teachers who encouraged and supported her quest. One of them accompanied her to Washington, D.C., to compete in the National Spelling Bee in 1941, an experience she never forgot. She worked her way through Delta State, graduating as class valedictorian, and later earned a master's degree in education at Alabama A & M. She passed on a love of learning to her children and their children, emphasizing the importance of thinking critically about the world. And she was a beloved schoolteacher, paying forward the energy and care she received from her own teachers. She may have actually integrated the Madison County school system when she accepted a job teaching English at Councill High, then taught sixth-grade at Davis Hills until she retired. She then continued her own education through OLLI classes at UAH, which she fondly called Geezer School. 

Another constant was her deep-seated sense of fairness and her compassion for her fellow human beings. She was as honest as the day is long. She never forgot what it was like to grow up in poverty and went out of her way to help anyone in need. She worked tirelessly for civil rights and was not afraid to speak her mind. She was politically active, working for candidates who meshed with her desire for justice for all. The lessons she passed on to her children and grandchildren about appreciation, kindness, decency, generosity, integrity, and humanity live on. 

But the foremost constant in Becky's life was love of family and friends. She was a devoted mother, Mammaw, sister, aunt, and friend, and she poured herself into those roles. Whether she was volunteering at her kids' school or the ballpark, or upholstering furniture and making curtains, or sewing prom dresses and wedding dresses, or playing games or working crossword puzzles, or cooking favorite dishes or canning jam, she was all in as a mother – advisor, comforter, playmate, nurturer, friend, challenger, encourager, teacher, role model. She treated her friends, young and old, as family, always available to share a cup of coffee or lend a shoulder. And wife. She and Frank met at a dance in Memphis, where she worked for the FBI and he served in the Navy. After a four-month courtship, they married and danced their way through the next sixty-nine years, until his death in 2020. They were a great pair who appreciated one another's intelligence, integrity, and care for others, and they modeled for all who knew them that it is never wrong to do the right thing. 

She is survived by her daughter Susan Maynard, daughter and son-in-law Phyllis and Jake Wood, son-in-law Dan Maynard, daughters-in-law Mary Holm and Karen Holm, sister Glenda Neely, and thirty-four grandchildren and great grandchildren, every one of them special! She was preceded in death by her husband, Frank John Holm; her sons, John Frank Holm (infant), John Paul Holm, and George Frank Holm; and her siblings Wesley Searcy, Paul Searcy, and Edna Earl Searcy. There will be a memorial service sometime next spring, to be determined. Meanwhile, if you wish to pay your respects to Becky, think of her as you do a good deed.

Compassionate, sympathetic, and professional service has been entrusted to the hands and care of the Northport Funeral & Cremation Service Professional Team.