The city of Holmes Beach and Anna Maria Island have lost a key figure in their development.
Hugh G. Holmes died May 8 at home on Sunrise Lane in Holmes Beach at the age of 96, only miles from where he was born Nov. 13, 1926, in Anna Maria.
Holmes was the second son of Catherine and John E. Holmes Sr., the namesake of Holmes Beach.
As a child, Holmes was enrolled a year early as a kindergartner at the Anna Maria School, where the community center — now the Center of Anna Maria Island — is located.
Holmes left the island in early 1932 to be closer to his mother’s family in Boston, as her health was failing.
Two years after she died in August 1932, the Holmes family returned to Anna Maria, where the young brothers reenrolled at the school.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 and the United States became involved in World War II, the Holmes brothers worked shifts as spotters to report local aircraft and ship activity to the U.S. Coast Guard.
Hugh Holmes graduated Bradenton High School in 1944 and joined the U.S. Navy. He again returned to the island in 1946 and soon after met his wife of 74 years, Jean.
Holmes became chief of the Anna Maria Volunteer Fire Department and was responsible for bringing the first fire truck to the island, was founder and CEO of the Island Bank, served on the Anna Maria Island Erosion Control Board, as well as owned and operated Holmes Construction Company.
He is preceded in death by his brother, John E. Jr.. and his daughter and son-in-law, Donna and Don Rowe.
His is survived by his wife, Jean and daughters Deborah Hall, Cherri Rigney, Jean Bystrom and Judy Titsworth and son, Hugh Jr.
Titsworth, who was elected Holmes Beach mayor in 2018, told The Islander May 10 that her father was most of all a family man.
“My parents gave us the perfect childhood,” she said. “Dad was always there to help us with everything we wanted to do. He built us forts. We were wildlife rescuers back then, so he helped us splint wings of seagulls. … He always gave us his time.”
Titsworth said he was an outdoorsman who loved to golf, boat and fish.
She said his health had begun to decline in recent years but she was happy her father could pass away at home, “looking at his view of the bay and surrounded by everyone.”
“As a teenager, he always said ‘I want to buy that lot and raise my family there.’ And that’s exactly what he did,” she said.
Commissioner Terry Schaefer, who announced Holmes’ death at a May 10 Clean Water Committee meeting, said he felt “privileged” to know Holmes and his wife.
“I always found him to be such a down-to-earth and genuine individual,” Schaefer said. “They were very, very capable citizens doing their part to improve our quality of life. … His death is certainly a loss to the family but also a loss to the community.”
A service will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday, May 17, at Roser Memorial Community Church, 512 Pine Ave., Anna Maria.