William Arthur Holmes

William Arthur Holmes died on August 9, 2024, eight days before his 95th birthday. He resided at Homewood Retirement Community in Frederick, MD. Bill was adopted at two weeks of age by James B. and Johnnie M. Holmes. Surviving him are his wife, Nancy; two sons: Will and Chris, and their respective wives Debi and Margaret, Bill's six grandchildren, three great grandchildren, and his sister Bonnie McLain. His sister, Marley Jo Clark, preceded him in death.
He grew up in Oklahoma and Arkansas, graduating from Little Rock High School, before earning a B.A. from Hendrix College and a Masters from Perkins School of Theology. He then attended Union Theological Seminary in New York studying Homiletics with nationally known preachers and Theology with Paul Tillich and Reinhold Niebuhr. He said the privilege of his graduate studies were made possible by Nancy's "PHT" (putting hubby through). Later, he received two Honorary Doctorates, wrote periodicals for Christian Century, Harvard Divinity School, and others, authored four books: Tomorrow's Church, Mature Christianity, The God Mask, and Religious Renegades, and hosted a TV program "Perspective".
Bill was a United Methodist minister for 46 years serving churches in Arkansas and Texas before his last appointment in 1974 as Senior Minister at the National Methodist Church in Washington, DC - Metropolitan Memorial. For 24 years, he served this prominent congregation that included: members of Congress, a Supreme Court Justice, and others in government service. In 1998, he retired later becoming its' Minister Emeritus. While in DC, he also served on: the Governing Board of the National Council of Churches, as a Trustee of American University and Sibley Memorial Hospital chairing Sibley's Ethics Advisory Committee, and founded the Washington Lawyer's Guild pursuant to his interest in legal matters and Christian ethics.
Throughout his ministry, Bill gave priority to sermon preparation and delivery which were mostly pastoral but occasionally provocative and controversial. He preached for the nationally syndicated Protestant Hour and was an Interim Instructor in Homiletics at Perkins School of Theology. In 1963, while a minister at Northaven United Methodist Church in Dallas, he preached a sermon the Sunday after President Kennedy's assassination calling for a new civility in Dallas to counter recent events there that included spitting on certain government officials, and school children cheering when told of the assassination. Excerpts from that sermon were carried on the CBS evening news with Walter Cronkite two days later, which immediately resulted in bomb threats to the TV station and the Holmes' family. Police advised Bill and Nancy to take their sons out of school, leave home, and under police guard – stay with members of their congregation until after that Thanksgiving weekend.
Though a gentle soul, Bill led throughout his ministry on social justice issues before it was safe, smart, or popular to do so. He claimed it as God's love in the world and worked to expend that love strategically. He: counseled pregnant women in Texas on abortion options before Roe vs. Wade; hired one of the first female Methodist ministers out of seminary who went on to become one of the first Methodist female bishops; started a campaign to raise funds for children with AIDS; opened a homeless shelter for men in the National Methodist church; helped found Washington Interfaith Network (WIN) a broad-based, multi-racial, multi-faith, non-partisan, District wide citizens' power organization; and was proudly arrested protesting apartheid in South Africa.
The love of Bill's life was Nancy. He not only loved her romantically but greatly respected and admired her as a person. A team for over seven decades, no two people ever enjoyed each other and their family more. Bill's greatest honor was getting to be his kids' dad and grandad.
A private family service will be held in the next few months.
Donations in Bill's memory can be made to: National United Methodist Church, 3401 Nebraska Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20016; or Hartley House, 326 W Patrick St., Frederick, MD 21701.