Robert Neil Holloway
1953-2020
Robert Neil Holloway was born November 3, 1953 in Euclid, Ohio and entered the gates of Heaven on July 29, 2020. Rob was preceded in death by his parents, Charles Ralph and Stella Rose Holloway and his brother Brian Holloway. Rob is survived by his wife Sissy Burrage Holloway of the home; daughter Hailey and her husband Michael Spencer of Denver, Colorado; and step-daughter Jessica (Janoe), her husband Brad Walthall and their son Fletcher, of Edmond, Oklahoma. Rob is also survived by his cousins, Sissy's brothers, and their wives and children.
Rob was known for many things, not the least of which were his beautiful smile, his trademark phrase "If I was any better, I'd be twins", and his music. As a child, he taught himself how to play guitar, started singing in his teens and started playing piano by ear in his 40's. He always laughed when he told the story of his concert beginnings which were really gigs in bars and roadhouses in Kentucky when he was in his 20's. The balance of his musical career took place at Church of the Servant with several different performers and combos, and also with his band, "Rob & Red" and their concerts at the Jazz Lab in Edmond. Rob played and sang from his heart and wanted everyone to experience the emotion of his music as he touched the keys of the piano or plucked the strings of his guitar.
Although Rob called himself a carpenter and did many pieces of custom woodwork, he also left a legacy of beautiful structures that he designed and/or built in the form of large estate homes, country clubs, churches, thoroughbred horse farms, restaurants, hotels and manufacturing facilities. He was an artist at heart and was able to talk with clients to get their dreams on paper and then use his hands and the hands of his friends to make them a reality. It was important to Rob that he build structures to last a hundred years and his works of art are sprinkled across the country in Kentucky, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arizona, Idaho and California. Over the last 20 years, his health issues presented obstacles that seriously threatened his ability to do what he loved. In true Rob fashion, when each diagnosis, surgery or physical limitation presented itself, he smiled, adjusted his focus and created a new phase of his journey.
Throughout his life, Rob made it a priority to mentor young men and help them find their direction as men of God, craftsmen, fathers and husbands. He also encouraged others and told them "If you can find your passion and a way to make money doing it, you'll never have to work a day in your life." He gave them life advice, shaped by his own life plan.
Rob's faith and his family were the most important things in his life. He believed by creating beautiful spaces for worship and filling them with music, he could bring others closer to God. Rob and his family spent the last 27 years worshipping at Church of the Servant and his final project there was to design and build the Columbarium, where his ashes will be interred.
Rob would stop at nothing to do whatever it took to carry out God's plan and take care of his girls. He was the perfect girl dad and taught Hailey and Jessica to be strong and shoot for the stars. Rob was Jessica's bonus dad and he took full advantage of any opportunity to fill in. From convincing a very reluctant Jessica to let him take the training wheels off her bicycle, to encouraging and enabling her hobbies of singing and photography, to playing the piano as she walked down the aisle to marry the man of her dreams. Best bonus dad ever. There aren't enough words, colors or phrases to paint a complete picture of Rob and Hailey. He always told her and everyone else that she was the light of his life from the day she was born. They were inseparable and she was his carbon copy. He touched every piece of her life and walked side by side with her as she ventured out into each new experience. When she was little, he fixed her hair to perfection every morning and took her to work with him and on jobsites every day. As she grew up, he adopted her friends as his own kids and then gave her wings to leave to follow her own path. Rob left this earth with the full confidence that Michael and Brad would do their best to take care of his girls. Rob called his wife, Sissy, "Wonder Woman" and moved the puzzle pieces of their life around to help make her dreams come true. Whatever made her happy, filled his life with joy. He perfected her favorite peach pie, made music for her every single day and his last and most precious puzzle piece was building the perfect home for them. Sissy, Hailey and Jessica knew they were loved because he told them in word, song and actions on a daily basis. His passion for life and for his girls created loving, lasting, beautiful memories.
Formal visitation will be held from 2-5 p.m., Sunday, August 2nd at Matthews Funeral Home. Services will be held at 2:00 p.m., Monday, August 3, 2020 at Church of the Servant in Oklahoma City, OK. Social distancing and masks will be required at the Church of the Servant. Memorial contributions may be made to the Church of the Servant.