HOME By Twyla Smith-Holloway Photos by Jessie Newell
At the age of 16, Joel “Jick” Holloway was told by his father it was time for Jick to leave home. Jick had graduated from Davis High School in May 1958, and could “make it on his own”. On his 17th birthday, Jick joined the Army and left for basic training from Oklahoma City. That is when Jick determined he would work hard, learn much and own his own home so that no one could ever dictate to him, “It is time for you to leave.” Training in the Army included Combat Medic and Medical Specialist, which bought him a ticket to Korea along the DMZ in 1958 and then to Tripler Army Hospital in 1959. Receiving an Honorable Discharge in 1961, Jick returned to Oklahoma to attend Pharmacy School and then Medical School at the University of Oklahoma. Following a Residency in Dermatology at the University
of Arkansas in Little Rock, Jick returned to Norman in 1974 where he treated patients with cancers and diseases of the skin for more than 50 years. Meanwhile, Twyla Smith left her hometown of Bartlesville, Oklahoma in 1973 and moved to Norman to attend Pharmacy School, Medical School, and Residency in Psychiatry at the University of Oklahoma. Twyla has seen patients as a general adult Psychiatrist in Oklahoma City and Norman for over 30 years. Jick and Twyla met in June 1976, dated for 18 years, fell in love, and decided to marry and build their forever home in Norman where they live today. After 2 years of meeting weekly with their architect they decided it was time to build. They bought 4 acres in Cinnamon Run, married on the land that would become their homesite and began construction. The house was built on an area of natural clearing but much of the land was densely covered with underbrush, greenbriar, and a variety of cross-timber trees. Construction of the house took almost 2 years, with the usual
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CAREGIVER Magazine
Issue 21
CaregiverOklahoma.com
