Lucy (Durham) Holmes

Lucy Holmes (born Golda Lucile Durham) passed away on May 18, 2024 in Colorado Springs, Colorado, two days shy of her 96th birthday.  

A private family graveside service will be held at a later date at the Whiting City Cemetery in Whiting, Iowa. Arrangements are under the direction of Goslar Funeral Home and Monuments, Onawa, Iowa.

Lucy was born in Melcher, Iowa on May 20, 1928, the youngest of three children of Lloyd and Hazel Durham.  In 1929 Lloyd passed away and Hazel moved her young family to Knoxville, Iowa.

Lucy excelled at every level of schooling while growing up in Knoxville.  She participated in a wide range of extracurricular activities, including her lifelong passions of photography and journalism. In her senior year, Lucy’s scholarly and civic service earned her the Daughters of the Revolution (D.A.R.) Citizenship Award and Knoxville High School’s award of the “Most Ideal Girl of 1946" awarded on the “basis of character, service, leadership and scholarship.”  The photograph memorializing the award shows an 18-year-old Lucy with her four school mates and lifelong friends, Ozzie; Barb J.; Lizzie and Barb S. who together were known as “The Fab 5.”

After graduating high school, Lucy attended the University of Iowa and became a member of the Pi Beta Phi Sorority.  In 1948 and at the suggestion of one of her sorority sisters, Lucy got a summer job as a waitress at the recently opened Okoboji Club located at West Lake Okoboji, Iowa.  While working that summer at the Okoboji Club Lucy met her future husband, Jules.  Jules was a Navy veteran of WW II and his parents had a summer cottage in the area.

In 1949 Lucy and Jules were married in the First Methodist Church of Des Moines.  Their honeymoon was a trip to Chicago, New Orleans, Havana, and Jamaica and it marked the beginning of Lucy’s world travels.

After their honeymoon Jules and Lucy resided in Onawa, Iowa and had four children.  In 1962 Jules and Lucy moved their family to Colorado Springs, Colorado and they remained there for the rest of their lives. During their years in both Iowa and Colorado, Jules and Lucy took their family on many trips, primarily to the family cottage at Okoboji, but later expanding their trips to Canada, Mexico, Latin America, and Europe.

After Jules passed away in 1997, Lucy continued her world travels.  Her trips included China, Egypt, India, Ireland, Israel, Myanmar, Peru, Russia, South Africa, Thailand, and Vietnam.  She was often joined in these trips with her son Jeffery and Fab 5 friend Barb J.  During these trips Lucy took thousands of photographs and later compiled the best of the photos in numerous travel photo journals.

Lucy was predeceased by her husband, Jules d’Orsay Holmes; her parents, Lloyd Durham and Hazel Johnson Durham (Graves/Heaberlin); brother, John Durham and his wife Delores (Tamisiea); and sister, Ruth Jones and her husband Amos. Lucy was also predeceased by her daughter, Susan Holmes Kleinschmidt; daughter-in-law, Colette O’Connell Holmes, and son-in-law, Kenneth Kleinschmidt.  

Lucy is survived by her sons, Mark (Monica), Jeffery (Yoko), and Edwin (Lisa); her grandchildren, Thomas Kleinschmidt (Amanda), Matthew Holmes, Marianna Holmes and Robert Holmes, as well as nieces, nephews and grand nieces and grand nephews.  Of exceptional delight to Lucy during her last years were her two precious great grandsons, Ansel Kleinschmidt and John Henry Kleinschmidt.  

Condolences may be left online for the family at www.goslarfuneralhome.com

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Lucy (Durham) Holmes, please visit our floral store.