Clyde Layne Holloway
1939—2023
Clyde Layne Holloway was born April 16, 1939, in the Louisville, Kentucky, neighborhood of Middletown. Clyde began working at 11 years of age with a construction company. He continued construction work until he graduated from high school.
Persuaded to attend college by his brother, Clyde enrolled at Harding University in 1957. In college, he was the school’s badminton and ping pong champion. During his senior year, he decided to apply to medical school and received an almost perfect score on his medical school admissions test (MCAT).
Clyde attended the University of Kentucky Medical School, specializing in Family Practice. While there, he met Mary Jo Williamson of Inez, Kentucky, and they married in 1965.
After graduating, Clyde entered the Public Health Service and was assigned to the U.S. Coast Guard. He was initially stationed in California, where he provided medical services to servicemen returning from Vietnam. He was then assigned as the ship’s doctor on the USC&GS research ship Discoverer, whose mission was to help prove the theory of continental drift. Afterwards, he was assigned to Lexington to provide mental health services to veterans at the local VA Hospital.
His first child, a son, was born in Lexington.
After his discharge from the Public Health Service, Clyde practiced medicine at a rural health clinic in Inez for three years. His daughter and second son were born then.
In 1972, he moved to Hartselle, Alabama, to work, then he bought a practice in Cullman, Alabama, in 1974. He served as the hospital administrator at Cullman Hospital, recruiting multiple doctors and dentists to the area. In 1975, he and Dr. Henry Beeler built a medical office beside Woodland Medical Center. Clyde practiced medicine there for 33 years before he joined North Alabama Medical Associates until his retirement in 2019. Clyde was a practicing physician for a remarkable 54 years.
In 1988, Clyde helped found the Highway 157 Church of Christ. He served as an elder there for many years and was a member until his death. Clyde was an incredibly humble man who never introduced himself as “Dr. Holloway” but always as “Clyde Holloway,” and he refused to be called “Dr.” once he retired. His humility and kindness endeared him to his family, friends, and countless patients, many of whom told him, “You saved my life.”
Clyde will be remembered as a frequent and funny storyteller, a lover of strawberry milkshakes, coconut cream pie, and Kentucky basketball. He liked to fish, work on home improvement projects, mow his lawn, and visit with his grandchildren. He loved to study the Bible and spent much of his free time every day reading it.
Survivors include his wife, Mary Jo; his children, Russ (Mandy), Mary Layne (Chris), and Jim (Amanda); and six grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents, Earl and Kathleen Holloway, and his only sibling, Robert Holloway.
Clyde donated his body to the UAB Medical School to help students with medical research. There will not be a funeral. The family will have a small, private memorial service to honor Clyde’s remarkable life. It was an honor to have been part of the life of such a kind, humble, and faithful man.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.