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Nathaniel 'Nate' Holloway 'He’s going home tonight' Family, friends honor late civil rights champion

Portsmouth Herald - 4/16/2017

PORTSMOUTH — Family members, friends and local officials packed the New Hope Baptist Church Saturday to celebrate the life of Nathaniel “Nate” Holloway, a civil rights champion and Air Force veteran.

The more than two-hour “home-going service” for Holloway, featured stirring and often tear-filled tributes to the 79-year-old, rousing songs performed in his honor and powerful preaching by Pastor Arthur Hilson of New Hope Baptist Church.

Holloway served as a deacon at the church for years. He died at home on Monday, April 10 after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease.

Hilson told the crowd gathered they weren’t there to mourn Holloway, but to “celebrate the life of one of God’s warriors.”

People should not feel badly for Holloway, who endured medical problems through the last years of his life, because “he’s going home tonight,” Hilson said.

“There’s no more wheelchairs, no more falling, no more doctors, no more pain, he’s free tonight,” Hilson yelled to shouts of “amen and hallelujah.”

Numerous friends and family members stood up and paid tribute to Holloway’s dedication to his family, civil rights and his church while also turning people’s tears to laughter as they imitated his booming voice and told stories about the Griffin, Georgia native.

Jennifer Holloway, Holloway’s daughter-in-law, paused several times to compose herself as she talked about her father-in-law. “There’s a vacant place where my father-in-law used to reside,” she said. “I feel sad, my heart hurts and I miss him.”

But she pledged to bear witness about what a positive change Holloway made in her life.

“When I am tempted to be argumentative and short on patience, I promise I will try to remember his advice,” she said. “He said ‘Jennifer arguing doesn’t fix anything.’”

She paid tribute to to the “lifetime he spent faithfully, determinedly working for civil rights, for people in the community.”

Not only did he fight to establish the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday in New Hampshire, she said, but “as he said to me one evening at his kitchen table to make it so my children never have to go through what I went through.”

Holloway’s son, Courtney Holloway, thanked everyone who attended Saturday’s service, saying the turnout and the support the family has received “makes me very happy.”

Courtney Holloway recalled how many of his friends in high school were initially afraid to come over to his family’s house.

In addition to having a booming voice, Holloway was a larger-than-life Air Force veteran who won boxing championships while serving in the military.

“The gruff exterior doesn’t always tell the story,” Courtney Holloway said.

“He was very big on if they’re treating you right as friends, they’re welcome in our house,” he said. “He was very protective of my friends.”

He then recalled to much laughter how his father took him to see the movie “Jaws” when he was just 6 or 7 years old. “I always remember it because to this day I don’t like horror movies because of it,” Courtney Holloway said.

He reminded his mother, Dorothy Holloway, who was married to his father for 52 years, how he ran into their bedroom after having a nightmare from watching “Jaws.”

“You kind of laid the hammer down on him,” he said as the crowd in the church laughed loudly.

He then talked about how much he appreciated the fact his father “loved his wife his kids, and his grandchildren."

“He was very, very big into family,” Courtney Holloway said.

Braxton Holloway, one of Holloway’s grandchildren, recalled just “how selfless my grandfather was.” “I’ll never forget him,” he said as he fought back tears.

Assistant Mayor Jim Splaine, who worked with Holloway for years until the Legislature passed the law making Martin Luther King Jr. Day a holiday in New Hampshire, read a proclamation honoring his friend from Mayor Jack Blalock.

Splaine, a former state senator, recalled how he twice drove Holloway to Concord to testify in support of the bill, including “one time during a bad snowstorm.” “He did not like my driving,” Splaine said to laughter from the crowd.

He started introducing Holloway to other lawmakers at the Legislative Office Building. “Soon we found we were filling the hallway,” Splaine said as the combination of Holloway’s voice and his presence captivated lawmakers.

“Nobody wanted to leave,” Splaine added. “He was a powerful man and he meant what he said … Everybody crowded around him, there was just something that drew people to him, as we all know.”

Burial will be on Monday, April 17 at 10:30 a.m. at the New Hampshire State Veterans Cemetery in Boscawen.

Memorial donations may be made to the Nathaniel Holloway Community Scholarship Fund c/o Seacoast NAACP Branch #2070 PO Box 1261 Portsmouth NH 03802-1261.