Thomas Holt M.D.

Thomas Holt, M.D, a practicing physician for 61 years, died peacefully September 5 at his home in Warrenton.
Funeral services will be conducted Saturday, Sept. 11, at 2 p.m. in Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Warrenton, with burial at 4:30 p.m. in Fairview Cemetery.
Born Nov. 5, 1913, in Wise, NC, to Dr. Thomas J. and Helen Russell White Holt, Dr. Holt devoted most of his professional career as an Eye-Ear-Nose-Throat (EENT) specialist in Warrenton, operating for 50 years from his office on Fairview Street.
Dr. Holt graduated from Augusta Military Academy, Ft. Defiance, VA, and from UNC-CH in 1936. He went to Richmond Medical College, completing his training with an internship in 1939 at Medical College of Virginia. He then began his medical career in Warrenton in general practice, with minor surgery, but was soon called to serve during World War II, U.S. Marine Hospital Division, in Mobile, AL, Detroit, MI, and Kill Devil Hills.
In 1945, Dr. Holt returned to medical school at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, specializing in the practice of ophthalmology and otolaryngology. Graduating in 1947, he and his classmates were among the nation’s last graduates with EENT training before the discipline split into separate fields of eye and ear-nose-throat.
In 1948, Dr. Holt joined the Rocky Mt. Sanitarium and remained there until he returned to Warren County in 1951 where he maintained his eye-ear-nose-throat practice for the next 52 years. He and other local doctors helped lead the effort to create Warren General Hospital in the mid-1950s.
During his tenure in Warrenton, Dr. Holt served both as a member and as chairman of the Warren County Board of Education during the late 1950s and early 1960s; he was also a member of the Warrenton Rotary Club for many years and a loyal parishioner at Emmanuel Episcopal Church.
Dr. Holt is perhaps most remembered, however, for teaching through personal example. Walking with his dogs, cycling around the town and county, eating sensibly for decades-- all were healthy practices that contributed to a remarkably long and vibrant life. At the same time, he reaped hours of genuine joy and wisdom by interacting with his many patients and friends from Northeast North Carolina and Southside Virginia.
Travel was another passion for Dr. Holt who, beginning in the 1970s and continuing well into the 1990s, took and accompanied his family along many trips to the Great Northwest, Alaska, Canada, US Rockies, England and Scotland, Italy, and Egypt. He was especially fond of touring the remote Western Hebrides islands off the coast of Scotland.
Always one to be able to tell a good story or joke, he loved reading, music, his friends, his family, and his beloved Warrenton. He was well-known locally for voicing his opinions through letters to the Warren Record editor, especially when he felt they might do some good for the town that his ancestors had helped to flourish more than 150 years ago.
In addition to his parents, he was also predeceased by his wife of 60 years, Lela Manning Holt, formerly of Bainbridge, GA; his brother, Hugh White Holt of Warrenton; and one grandson, Thomas J. Holt.
He is survived by four sons, Thomas M. (Margaret) of Ft. Walton Beach, FL; Edmund W. (Cyndi) of Pensacola, FL; Leon M. (Perri) of Wake Forest; and H. Frank (Brooke) of Chapel Hill; one daughter, Helen W. Holt of Wake Forest; a sister, Helen H. Morrison of Concord; 13 grandchildren: Gwendolyn H. Norrell (Rob) of Ft. Lauderdale, FL; Daniel E. Holt of Auburn, AL; Andrew W. Holt (Beth) of Fairbanks, AK; Rachel H. Tabor (Neil) of Memphis, TN; Lauren H. McClave (Kevin) of Charlotte; Virginia C. Holt and Eleanor M. Holt of Pensacola, FL; Jacob L. Holt and Charlton P. Holt of Wake Forest; Lela M. Urquhart of Atlanta, GA; Clara U. Blanchard (Chris) of Lewiston-Woodville; John L. Holt of Oxford, MS; and Julia J. Holt of Buies Creek, NC; and five great-grandchildren.
The family is grateful for the many years of attention, friendship and support given by his nurse-receptionist of 50 years, Dorothy Hawks Knight of Norlina, and, more recently, for the excellent care and companionship provided to their father by Joyce Hardy, Alton Patrick, and Gwyn and Gene King.
Serving as active pallbearers will be Jay Andrews, Glenn Benton, Richard Blankenship, Neblett Bullock, Kearny Davis, Everett Knight, and Al Williams, Jr.
The family will receive friends at Blaylock Funeral Home in Warrenton on Friday, Sept. 10, from 6-8 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donations to Fairview Cemetery Association, P.O. Box 263, Warrenton, NC 27589, would be appreciated.