Winford Byron Holloway

Winford Byron Holloway left this life early Thursday morning, March 6 at The Gardens of Sapulpa after a short illness. Win was born September 16, 1921, in rural Myron Arkansas. His father, Virgil C. Holloway (1896€“1975), struggled to feed his family of six by farming during the Great Depression, a formative experience that inculcated lifelong habits of hard work, love of family, and thrift. When Virgil moved to West Plains MO in 1937 to operate a successful general store with the help of his three sons, Win learned many valuable life and business skills. All three Holloway sons enlisted in the Army Air Force in 1942; Win served at twelve different Air Force bases before his honorable discharge in 1946. After the war, he moved to the Bay Area of California in order to be closer to many friends and family. In 1950, Win joined his brother Lewis (€œBoo€) and father in Cushing OK where they operated a grocery store. Two years later, the three (sons and father) opened the first of several innovative and visually beautiful supermarkets in Tulsa under the Jitney Jungle name, pioneering what may have been the first free coffee service in a North American supermarket as well as many other cutting-edge special events such as Frontier Days during which bison was a featured culinary item. On January 24, 1954, Win married Helen Irene Smith (1924€“2004), a long-time West Plains acquaintance who worked as an executive secretary for the Ford Motor Company in Richmond CA. Win adopted Vicki Lynn McClung (1949€“), a child from Helen€˜s first marriage, and raised her along with his own son, Steven Winford Holloway (1955€“). The family moved to Birmingham AL in 1963 in order for Win to open a series of convenience stores with his brother Lewis, who would become his lifelong business partner, where he contentedly lived until his beloved wife of 50 years passed away. In 2004 he moved back to Tulsa, the place he called home, to spend his final years in the pleasant company of his two sisters, brother, and their families.
Win combined an immense strength of ethical character with a sweet and charitable disposition, seasoned by an impish sense of humor expressed in story-telling and the occasional prank. His native intelligence was obvious to all who spent time with him. His chief joy was his family. He loved wildlife, tending his gardens and ornamental landscapes, and thrilled to the aesthetic of autumn colors and mountain vistas. A loyal member of various churches (last attending First Christian of Sapulpa) as he moved throughout the country, he led a quiet Christian life whose spiritual presence deepened with the passing years. He is survived by his daughter Victoria (Vicki) H. McArthur and son-in-law Charles C. McArthur III of Tallahassee FL; his son Steven and daughter-in-law Cynthia M. Dunafon of Chicago IL; and his five siblings and their families: Tressa Mustion (of Bixby); Lewis B. Holloway (of Bixby); Maxine Pease (of Bixby) and husband Gene Pease; Earline Wurst (of Sarasota FL and Colorado Springs CO) and husband Arnold Wurst; and Clifford C. Holloway (of Perth Australia). Many nieces and nephews reside both locally and outside the area.
The funeral service will be held 2:00 p.m. Monday, March 10,2008 at Schaudts Glenpool Funeral Service. Interment will be at Memorial Park Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests that contributions be sent to The American Cancer Society or another alternate charity.
Love is and was my Lord and King, And in his presence I attend To hear the tidings of my friend, Which every hour his courtiers bring.
Love is and was my King and Lord, And will be, tho' as yet I keep Within his court on earth, and sleep Encompass'd by his faithful guard,
And hear at times a sentinel Who moves about from place to place, And whispers to the worlds of space, In the deep night, that all is well. €”Tennyson, In Memoriam (CXXVI)
Arrangements were entrusted to Daniel C. Schaudt of Schaudt's Glenpool Funeral Service & Cremation Care. Family and friends may view the obituary and send condolences to the family online at www.schaudtfuneralservice.com