Manuel Holguin, 82, passed away on Friday, July 17, 2020 at a local hospital. Mr. Holguin was born in Wilton, Alabama and had been a life long resident.He is preceded in death by his daughter, Samantha Chapa; son, Emanuel Holguin. He is survived by his loving wife, of 36 years of marriage, Virginia Holguin; children, Manuel (Alicia) Holguin, Jr., Gilberto Holguin, Diana (Roberto) De Hoyos, Jackie (Roberto) Garcia, Julissa (Ricardo) Diaz, Christine Holguin, Ramiro (Patricia) Holguin and Marta (Norberto) Gonzalez; brothers, Roberto (Gloria) Holguin and Samuel (Jenetta) Holguin. Also surviving him are several grandchildren, great-grandchildren, numerous other relatives and many friends.

Father

By Ella Wheeler Wilcox

He never made a fortune, or a noise
In the world where men are seeking after fame;
But he had a healthy brood of girls and boys
Who loved the very ground on which he trod.
They thought him just little short of God;
Oh you should have heard the way they said his name –
‘Father.’

There seemed to be a loving little prayer
In their voices, even when they called him ‘Dad.’
Though the man was never heard of anywhere,
As a hero, yet somehow understood
He was doing well his part and making good;
And you knew it, by the way his children had
Of saying ‘Father.’

He gave them neither eminence nor wealth,
But he gave them blood untainted with a vice,
And opulence of undiluted health.
He was honest, and unpurchable and kind;
He was clean in heart, and body, and in mind.
So he made them heirs to riches without price –
This father.

He never preached or scolded; and the rod –
Well, he used it as a turning pole in play.
But he showed the tender sympathy of God.
To his children in their troubles, and their joys.
He was always chum and comrade with his boys,
And his daughters – oh, you ought to hear them say
‘Father.’

Now I think of all achievements ‘tis the least
To perpetuate the species; it is done

By the insect and the serpent, and the beast.
But the man who keeps his body, and his thought,
Worth bestowing on an offspring love-begot,
Then the highest earthly glory he was won,
When in pride a grown-up daughter or a son
Says ‘That’s Father.’

The Holguin family is very thankful for all of the calls and concerns from family & friends.