In memoriam

Henry Holt

COLUMBUS, Ga.––Henry Holt, president of UM Men of the South Georgia Annual Conference, died January 30.

Henry was elected conference president last August. He previously served as vice president and president of the Columbus District.

He was an active member of St. Mary’s Road UMC in Columbus and he participated in a virtual leadership retreat earlier in the day of his death.

In the Sunday service the following morning, the Rev. Adriane McGee Burgess, pastor, sadly announced that Henry had transformed his membership from “the Road” to the “Church Triumphant.” In her closing comments, she said Henry had spent his final day on this earth in the service to the church through his participation in the leadership retreat.

Bishop served as pastor

Bishop James Swanson, president of the General Commission on UM Men, once served as pastor of St. Mary’s Road UMC. He recalls Henry joined the congregation while he was stationed at Fort Benning. “I found Henry to be a man you could count on to fulfill his word and to go the extra mile to carry out any duties, responsibilities or leadership assignments that were accrued to him,” said the bishop. “He brought joy and laughter to all that found themselves in his company.

The bishop noted that Henry was particularly devoted to the local UM Men’s Chapter at St. Mary’s Road. He later became president of UM Men in the Columbus District. Bishop Swanson says Henry was tutored by Johnny Hemingway, a member of St. Mary’s Road and a former president of South Georgia Annual Conference UM Men. This led to Henry becoming a vice president of the conference UM Men and finally as president.

 Education and career

Following a BA degree in behavioral science from the University of Southern Colorado in 1990, he completed a master’s degree in human resource management at the University of Northern Colorado in 2002.

He was the senior account executive with I-Heart Radio where he developed marketing plans for the radio station and prepared scripts for programming teams to voice on air.

Henry was found in the station’s parking Saturday evening by DJ Chip, vice president of programing for iHeartRadio.

He was known as Uncle Henry to many people because of his generosity and the hard work he put in supporting many community organizations. He was instrumental in bringing some of the big musical acts to Columbus. An army veteran, he worked with iHeartRadio for 20 years.

“I think he’d probably want to be remembered as the Henry that we knew, who was the real helpful guy,” said Chip. “Real God-fearing man. He was real helpful, he was a mentor, all around good guy. He was helpful to us like that. He was real friendly, always smiling.”