Florence (Leisure) Holcomb, age 88 of Indianapolis, passed away the evening of August 30, 2007 at Community Hospital North in Indianapolis.
Born the youngest of seven children of Bert H and Carrie McCaskey Leisure on November 6, 1918, Florence grew up on the family farm in Tipton County – her home for 22 years. Of a sweet nature, she still kept up with her brother and sisters as they walked around the top of windmills, riding an occasional cow when the dairy cattle wended their way back from the different grazing fields. Her sisters challenged each other to jump from the horse barn rafters into the hay below. They all were expected to achieve for themselves, which they did. Florence lived in 50 different houses; pictures of which remain in a scrapbook celebrating her 50th wedding anniversary in 1991.
Florence married a young electrical engineering student, the son of a former pastor in Leisure. Lewis Holcomb and Florence were married on June 28, 1941, and Florence became an Army wife for 22 years and often found herself close to an historical event that changed the future. The family lived in post-war Japan when the Japanese people were recovering from starvation and destruction of the war. Americans children were told not to play outside where there might be unexploded bombs and Communists snake-danced through city parks on May 1. She also lived in Montgomery, Alabama, during the bus boycott, driving into the “colored” neighborhoods with along with Air Force wives to keep pay and work reaching the boycotting black workers. She lived in Ottawa, Ontario, when the British were upset with Americans for not providing support during the Suez Crisis. During the Cuban missile crisis, she learned that Lewis would have been moved quickly to an underground bunker to survive a Russian nuclear attack, so Lewis would have walked out into “the day after,” while his wife and his three children would not.
Finally, after working with defense companies finally came retirement in Indianapolis. In the remaining years, Florence found wonderful friends in their new church, and she enjoyed its many activities for active older members of the congregation who traveled too fast to slow down. “Super Sixties” was a wonderful way to visit interesting locations in Indiana with special trips out of state, and Florence found so many new lifelong friends.
Florence leaves her three children and spouses, Ann Campbell Holcombe of Indianapolis; Jane Elizabeth Holcomb Pearson (Donald R.) of Dayton, OH; and Dr. William Lewis Holcomb, Jr. (Carol Corey) of University City, MO. She also leaves the following grandchildren, spouses and great-grandchildren: Jesse Scott Campbell and Jonathan McCaskey Campbell of Philadelphia, PA; Sarah Jane Campbell and Nathan Andrew Holcomb (Heather Clark) of Boston, MA; Christina Louise Pearson Manzewitsch (Timothy) and great-granddaughter Abigail Elizabeth of Pittsburgh, PA. She was preceded in death by her husband, William Lewis Holcomb, Sr; her parents, Bert H Leisure and Carrie McCaskey Leisure; and her six brother and sisters, Pauline Leisure, Lucinda Leisure, Harriet Leisure Naden, Mary Leisure Johnson, Jeannette Virginia Leisure Apple, and Charles Nathan Leisure. She was also preceded in death by two great-granddaughters, Hannah Manzewitsch, and Emily Clark Holcomb.
Funeral Services will be held at 11:00 AM Saturday, September 8, 2007 at Castleview Baptist Church – 8601 Hague Road, Indianapolis where she was a member. Visitation will be from 10 to 11 AM preceding the church service. A second visitation with Mrs. Holcomb’s family will be held later in the day from 2:30-3:30 PM at Copher-Fesler-May Funeral Home in Elwood. Graveside services will be held at the Knox Chapel Cemetery in Grant County at 4:00 PM Saturday afternoon. Online condolences to the Holcomb family may be made at: www.copherfeslermay.com.
