Zan is Still the Man!

QUIT PLAYIN’

BY VINCENT L. HALL

I keep a Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other. My job is to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted!

– Zan Holmes

Black Dallas History!

Zan Wesley Holmes Jr. arrived in Dallas in 1956, fresh from his undergraduate work at Huston-Tillotson College, a historically Black college near Austin, Texas. The school was formed by merging two schools; Samuel Huston College and Tillotson Collegiate and Normal Institute.

Huston-Tillotson, the amalgam produced by the United Church of Christ and the United Methodist Church in 1952, was virtually new in its nomenclature when Holmes graduated. The association with the United Methodist Church also helped lead him to Dallas and the Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University.

Zan Holmes was a household name in the contingent areas from Waco to Austin. Holmes was the son of a preacher and always had a winning smile and winsome segues. He will never allow a conversation to be about him. Zan repositions accolades meant for him as a conduit for making positive observations about others.

Dr. Holmes is a walking billboard of kindness and generosity.

"Sweet Jesus," as some knew him in south Texas places like Lockhart, Luling, and Seguin, has a place and personality of his own.

Creating a standalone identity can be challenging for PKs (preacher’s kids) to establish. Zan made a name for himself as a bridge-builder, a powerful preacher and a

Ellis-Kirk became the third in the awards’ 90year history. Mrs. Craft won a Linz award for what she did, and Zan was recognized for what he did and for what he prevented.

Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price, Zan's most prolific member, made Dr. Holmes the official interpreter for the Dallas press corps. Price would curse out the media and any white folks that didn't like it, and Zan would be hounded for interviews and clarifying statements.

The retirement of Dr.