Albert Holladay Minor

Albert Holladay Minor, 89, of Roanoke, Va., died on Saturday, September 12, 2009. Born at North Garden in Albemarle County on July 16, 1920, he was the son of the late Frank Edward Minor and the late Sallie Linberry Minor. He was a graduate of Scottsville High School and the Jefferson School of Commerce in Charlottesville. He also attended the University of Pittsburgh. He joined the Navy on June 7, 1942, serving on recruiting duty in Lynchburg and induction duty at Greensburg, Pa. He married Margery Maddocks, of Greensburg, on May 14, 1944. He was then assigned to the amphibious forces in the Pacific, where he served aboard LST 806. He began his newspaper career at The Daily Progress in Charlottesville, where he covered police, courts, and local government as a reporter and later as telegraph edition. From 1948 to 1959, he served as a copy editor for The Pittsburgh Press, working at several assignments. Al was chief copy editor for The Roanoke World-News, the afternoon paper at that time, and later was special sections editor for The Times and World-News.
He was a long-time member of First Presbyterian Church of Roanoke, where he served as a deacon and as an elder. Visiting homebound members and encouraging the sick and lonely were his special ministries. Al was devoted to his immediate and extended family. He will be remembered for his kindness, his thoughtfulness, his dry sense of humor, and most of all his faith in Jesus Christ. He was a righteous man who walked with God.
Survivors include his wife of 65 years, Margery Minor; son, Bob Minor, of Boones Mill; daughter, Becky Angell and husband, John, of Greensboro, N.C.; grandson, Eoin Angell, of Winston-Salem, N.C.; granddaughter, Lia Johnson and husband, Randolph, of Columbus, Ohio; grandson, Conor Angell, and wife Kerri, of Bloomington, Ind.; and a number of nieces and nephews. Preceding him in death were two sisters, Sallie Lou Harris and Mary Ellen Ball; and two brothers, Frank Scott Minor and Robert Coles Minor.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials be made to the First Presbyterian Church Building Fund or to the Presbyterian Community Center.
A memorial service will be conducted 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, September 19, 2009, at First Presbyterian Church. Burial will be in Sherwood Memorial Park. The family will receive friends following the service. Arrangements by Simpson Funeral Home, 540-366-0707.