Sandra Holliday proved that you can go home again -- and make an impact in the community.
She relocated to Atlanta in the summer of 2004 after a decades-long career as a social worker and hospital administrator in Oakland, Calif. She bought a house in Regency Oaks, then an upstart John Wieland Homes community off Enon Road. There, she assisted the homeowners association board and helped the neighborhood grow roots.
She reunited with Turner High classmates and reconnected with relatives. She studied at the Southwest Arts Center and became active with Spelman alumni. She was a board member of the Grady Memorial Hospital Corporation, formally the Fulton-DeKalb Hospital Authority.
"She'd been active ever since she returned here," said Dawneese Bowen, a niece from Montgomery, Ala. "She'd always been real big on helping people with employment and encouragement to press on to further their education. She could get young people to see things in them that they didn't see or weren't encouraged to pursue."
Sandra Lee Holliday developed a recurring cough that led to the diagnosis of leiomyosarcoma, a rare aggressive cancer. The social worker died on June 16 from complications of the disease at her home. She was 64.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday at Atlanta's Elizabeth Baptist Church. Murray Brothers Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Ms. Holliday earned a bachelor's degree in sociology from Spelman College and her master's in social welfare from Chicago's Loyola University. She taught briefly, then accepted a job as a social worker at Children's Hospital & Research Center Oakland. Next, she became chief of medical and psychiatric services for the Alameda County (Calif.) Medical Center, where she retired as an associate administrator.
Then it was back to Atlanta. She was a regular at the Southwest Arts Center, where she took computer training and quilting, photography and painting classes.
"She became quite an artist herself," said the Rev. Joan Sanders, a Fayetteville resident who graduated with Ms. Holliday from Turner High and Spelman. "She loved the fact that the arts center was in the black neighborhood, and she supported it by taking classes and encouraging others to take classes. Wherever there were opportunities, she would take advantage of them and use them not to just help herself, but her community."
Ms. Holliday was one of two children born to the late Erastus and Dorothy Holliday. Her brother, Dr. Tyrone Holliday Sr., preceded her in death. She had no children of her own.
"She returned home and and was able to re-energize herself," her niece said. "She had been away so long, but she reconnected."
About the Author
