Elvernoy Goode Holland, 100 years old, passed away on July 4, 2024, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Mrs. Holland, affectionately known as “Sweet Mama,” “Mommy,” “Nanny” and “Aunt Noy,” was born in the middle of a snowstorm on Jan. 21, 1924, in Rocky Mount, Virginia.
She was the 11th child of Coria Anna (Muse) Goode and Daniel Goode. Mrs. Holland grew up on her family’s farm where she woke up at 5 a.m. daily to perform her chores of feeding the chickens and the pigs and milking the cows.
Her parents valued education and encouraged their daughters to attend college. Mrs. Holland, Class of 1946, attended Hampton Institute (now Hampton University), which she often called her “home by the sea.” When World War II went into full swing, Mrs. Holland left Hampton and moved to Pittsburgh, where her maternal aunt lived before moving to Boston.
During the war, Mrs. Holland began corresponding with a childhood friend, Walter Holland, who was serving in Japan. When he returned to the United States after the war, Mr. Holland was stationed at Fort Devens. He proposed marriage and sent for her to join him in Boston.
At 22 years old, Mrs. Holland traveled by train to South Station with her grip (a small suitcase) and a telegram containing instructions on the date, time and place to meet him. They married and settled in Cambridge where they had two boys and a girl.
After separating, divorcing and remarrying 11 years later, they had a fourth child, a girl.
Mrs. Holland was always very active in her children’s lives, serving as a den mother for her son’s Cub Scout troop and attending her granddaughter’s plays and her grandson’s Pop Warner games. She also volunteered at the Cambridge Community Center, where she helped catalog books for the library.
A devout Catholic and longtime member of St. Paul’s Catholic Church in Harvard Square, she sent her children to Catholic school and catechism classes. She passed on her value for education to her children, with all four attending college and several pursuing advanced degrees.
Mrs. Holland was a loving, devoted and kind person who never met a stranger. She was a housewife and later worked with the elderly, earning a gerontology degree from Bunker Hill Community College.
As a senior citizen, she volunteered as a foster grandparent in the Catholic Charities Foster Grandparent Program. She was also recognized with the Mac E. Davis Award by Harvard University for her work with autistic children in the Special Start program at the Peabody School in Cambridge. The children lovingly referred to her as “Nana Evie.” She was also an active member of the Ladies Auxiliary.
A marvelous cook, Mrs. Holland hosted legendary holiday dinners attended by family and friends featuring soul food, music and much laughter. She enjoyed gardening and maintained a city garden plot for years, growing her favorite vegetables, including collard greens and tomatoes. Her home was also a hub for relatives who moved from the south to Boston and for her children’s friends.
Mrs. Holland enjoyed going to the casino, which she referred to as “the casina” in her Southern drawl or “my house.” She loved going to Encore and one of her other favorites, Plainville Casino.
A lifelong baseball fan, Mrs. Holland often talked about the time she went to Fenway Park to watch Jackie Robinson play in the mid- to late 1940s. She also enjoyed traveling and counted Hawaii, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Bermuda, the Bahamas and Montreal among her favorite places to visit.
In her later years, she enjoyed going on weekly day trips and Sunday car rides with her daughters to cities and towns throughout New England. Mrs. Holland was also a big fan of Westerns, especially “Gunsmoke” and “Big Valley.”
Mrs. Holland leaves to cherish her memories: her son, Sherman David Holland of Providence, Rhode Island; daughter and her husband, Elvernoy “Albie” and Ronald Johnson of Weston; her daughter, Coria Holland (Fofana) of Everett; and her grandchildren: Maiah Johnson Dunn and her husband, Andy Dunn of Rochester, New York; and grandson, Malik Holland-Fofana of Everett, as well as a whole host of nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. Her eldest son, Walter Daniel “Danny” Holland, predeceased her. Mrs. Holland also leaves a daughter-in-law, Margaret “Peggy” Holland of Medfield.
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