Delois Holmes, 70, was known for her love of gardening and for her community spirit.
“She was always out there in front of her house working on her yard,” said Linda Grandberry-Shelton, one of Holmes’ neighbors in the Ville. “She'd be out there working, just the sweetest person.”
Her neighbors recall often seeing her planting flowers and how, on most Sundays, Holmes’ family and loved ones would gather at her house on Cote Brilliante Avenue.
The tradition was cut short on May 16 when a tornado that cut through the St. Louis neighborhood took Holmes’ life and her family home, which was built in 1893.
Jesse “Tony” Dunn, 43, is one of Holmes’ longtime neighbors. He said he’s known her since he was 8 or 9 years old.
Holmes was like a second mother to him.
Dunn was on his way to a doctor’s appointment to address his high blood pressure on May 16 when he received a phone call about Holmes needing help.
He turned his car around, and it took him 45 minutes to get home from Forest Park as he dodged flying debris and trees that fell along his path. The tornado had touched down in Clayton and moved through parts of St. Louis County, St. Louis and the Metro East.
“I’m driving slow, and trees are falling in the street,” Dunn said. “My mother calls me and she says, ‘The tornado just messed up our house, Tony, come home!'”
Dunn and his mother, Wanda, live on Cora Avenue, one street over from Cote Brilliante Avenue, where Holmes lived.
“When I got around there, when I seen her, it was nothing I could do,” Dunn said. “I'm not a licensed nurse or nothing. I know CPR, but a licensed nurse was already doing CPR.”
Authorities couldn’t help
Wanda Dunn was in her basement when the tornado hit.
When she came out to survey the damage to her home, she noticed her chimneys were blown off, some broken windows and a few bricks had fallen off her home. A few moments later, she saw Holmes’ property in disarray and commotion at her home.
Dunn’s grandson and nephew ran to help Holmes’ son, Reggie, as they worked to pull her out of the rubble.
Wanda came over as well to help revive Holmes.
“When I got over there, it was a lady — I believe she lived on the street — she was doing CPR,” Wanda said with tears in her eyes. “After she did it for a while, then I took over, but she (Holmes) wasn't coming back.”
The other person attempting CPR was Chaunte Gibbs, one of Holmes’ neighbors who has known her since she moved into the neighborhood in 2011. Gibbs said she rushed home on May 16 to find Holmes unconscious after the tornado had destroyed Holmes’ house.
Gibbs said she performed CPR on Holmes for 30 minutes.
She said at one point, she and others tried to get help from a nearby fire official who was sitting in a truck, but they were told there was nothing they could do because the roads were so blocked by trees and other debris.
Despite everyone’s efforts, Holmes died, and her body lay in her front yard for about six hours, Gibbs said.
“I think the worst thing was just to see her lay there and not get help,” Gibbs said. She criticized the city's response, noting the lack of sirens and delayed assistance.
“We feel like we've been set up, like they've been trying to take our neighborhoods, been trying to take our land,” Gibbs said through tears. “They knew it was coming, and they didn't warn us, they didn't tell us.”
Gibbs said Holmes will be greatly missed — the matriarch’s five sons and other loved ones visited her every Sunday and hosted gatherings like barbecues some weekends.
“Every week they was here and just loved on her,” Gibbs said. “I just loved seeing it, because, you know, everybody don't have that.”
‘A beautiful soul’
Holmes stood at about 4 feet 10 inches, but despite her tiny frame, she was a no-nonsense woman, Dunn said.
“She was the smallest woman and had nothing but boys,” Dunn said. “She was a beautiful woman. We lost a soul, a beautiful soul that actually kept the neighborhood together. My mama and my brother's mama, they were friends, and me and them, we kept the neighborhood together.”
Dunn said he remembers hanging out at Ms. Holmes’ house with his best friend and one of Holmes’ youngest sons, Reggie, as a young boy.
"She always teased me about my weight, always. That's why I loved going around there. She'll poke me in my stomach and be like, 'What is that?'"
— Jesse "Tony" Dunn,
The Ville resident
They would play video games all day as Holmes would blast music by Rick James, Teena Marie and Smokey Robinson.
“Only song we heard was Rick James, ‘Ebony Eyes,’” Dunn said. “It's my favorite song now, it’s been my favorite song.”
Dunn said the last thing Holmes said to him was a joke about his appearance.
“She always teased me about my weight,” Dunn said. “Always. That's why I loved going around there. She'll poke me in my stomach and be like, ‘What is that?’ Last thing she said to me, she said, ‘Baby, you getting fat — go get me a Heineken.’”
“We all family over here, and everybody over here is mourning right now.
"It still ain't sunk in because I still want to see her,” Dunn added. “It's like losing my mom. It's so hard. I still want to give her something for Christmas, something for Mother's Day, something for her birthday.”
Wanda Dunn said she’ll miss walking across Cora and Cote Brilliante Avenues to sit and chat with Holmes about her garden.
“She was so happy this year because she just got her porch done. She just got her roof done, then she had her deck done,” Dunn said with a smile on her face. “Ms. Lois would be out there every day in her yard. Rain or shine, she was out there in her yard.”
Wanda and Holmes both loved to cook and took turns over the years cooking for each other's children.
“She was lovely and I loved being around her because she made me laugh,” Wanda said. “If we were sipping on some wine or just talking, in general, she made me laugh.”
Holmes’ presence in the community is already missed, she said.
“I feel sad when I look over there and don't see her in her yard,” Wanda said as she peeked over at the dilapidated home that once belonged to her loving neighbor.
