Basil K. Holt's Obituary
Basil Holt was born on September 5, 1942 to Willie Lee and Charles Edgar Holt at Florence Nightingale Hospital in Dallas, Texas. Named after his great-uncle on his mother’s side, he spent his early years growing up between his parents’ house at 1906 Michigan Ave. and his grandparents at 302 Marlborough Ave. in Oak Cliff with his younger brother Lyndon. He graduated from Adamson High School, where many of his life-long friends also attended. He cherished his time and relationships at Adamson and always looked forward to and attended the class reunions. He was routinely found with best friends Bobby Hejl, Dennis Harris, Van Harris, Sam Story, Dicky Hickman, and Donny Young. In fact, Bobby would be responsible for Basil meeting his first-wife Shelia. Basil and Shelia had two children, Basil Jr. in 1962 and Robert in 1968. Basil’s parents founded Holt’s Florist on Oak Lawn Ave. in Dallas. It would move to its permanent home on Greenville Ave. next to the Arcadia Theater a short time later. Basil and his brother Lyndon worked in the flower shop as young men learning confidence and customer service skills in front and flower design in back. Both Basil and Lyndon had strong ties and board positions with the Texas State Florist Association and the West Texas New Mexico Florist Association. Both of these business and fraternal groups would provide a base for Basil’s professional career and strong bonds of friendship. From Holt’s Florist, Basil would launch his lifelong career in the floral industry. His mother Willie Lee was one of the first employee’s for start-up company American Floral Services (AFS) based out of Oklahoma City, founded by Herman Meinders. Basil would join American Floral Services a short time later as a salesman in California for the first year and would take over the region of Texas and surrounding states afterwards. Basil was very proud of his friendship with Herman and the two maintained a close relationship through Basil’s life. Three generations of Holt’s would eventually work at AFS. For his 33 years with AFS, Basil traveled extensively. Someone once remarked that Basil had visited every town in Texas at least once. He was familiar with nearly every highway in Oklahoma, New Mexico, Louisiana, and Arkansas. It was not uncommon for Basil to be away for weeks at a time and he routinely drove 100,000+ miles a year. He achieved Salesman of the Year multiple times with AFS. His family would meet him at weekend floral shows when he couldn’t make it home. Basil established many close friendships among his customers, co-workers, and sales peers from his time on the road. He still met monthly with those in the Dallas area and talked to many others on a daily basis by phone and email. After Basil retired from AFS in 2005, he worked at several non-floral related companies. In these positions, he never experienced the sense of family, friendship, and rewards as he did with AFS. He was accepted to the Society of American Florist, American Academy of Floriculture (AAF) in 1991 for his contribution to the floral industry. Basil was an avid sportsman and enjoyed boating, waterskiing, and fishing the most. He was most at-home near or on the water. Of special importance, nearly every dog encountered loved Basil. Basil is preceded in death by his brother, parents and grandparents. Basil is survived by his sons, Basil Jr. and Sheila Odom, Robert and his wife, Jennifer; granddaughter, April Holt Ramsey; his girlfriend, Jeanie Wilson, her daughter, Vicki Sicula and her husband, Steve and their children, Katie and Jack; Jeanie’s son, Michael Wilson and his wife, April and daughter, Shayla. Basil’s family will receive friends between 6:00-8:00 pm on Friday, January 16, 2015 at Restland Funeral Home. Services for Basil will take place at 11:00 am on Saturday, January 17, 2015 at The Memorial Chapel at Restland Funeral Home. Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to Restland Funeral Home and Memorial Park, 13005 Greenville Avenue, Dallas, TX 75243.
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