| Name | Elmer Andrew Holmes |
| Birth | Dec 10, 1901, Leedey, Oklahoma |
| Death | Oct 23, 1983, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |
| Education | some college |
| Father | John Wesley Holmes (1873-1923) |
| Mother | Artemissa Adeline Holmes (1880-1975) |
| 1 | Mary Edith Byford |
| Birth | Oct 6, 1907, Custer County, Butler, Oklahoma |
| Death | Jun 26, 1999, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |
| Burial | SunnyLane Cemetery |
| Occupation | House wife |
| Education | 6th grade |
| Father | Thomas Jefferson Byford (1874-1967) |
| Mother | Mary Emma Lumpkins (1877-1961) |
| Marriage | Jul 18, 1925, Custer County, Arapaho, Oklahoma |
| Children: | Alta Mae (1926-) |
| Willa Dean (1928-) | |
| Elmer Wendell (1930-1997) | |
| Naomi Pauline (1936-) | |
| Thomas Gerald (1939-) |
As a teenager, he was a Boy Scout in Leedey, Oklahoma in 1916. His family lived in Texmo, Oklahoma 1906-1907, where they operated a general store. They also had general stores in Fort Supply, Oklahoma (1909) and Leedey, Oklahoma (1909)
After marrying Edith, they lived on a farm near Leedy, Oklahoma from July to November 1925. At that time thye moved to Oklahoma City.
Elmer got his first job at the American First National Bank as a custodian after arriving in Oklahoma City. later he operated an elevator in the same building.
As a young fellow, Elmer worked in the oil fields (1920-1924) at Shidler, Oklahoma and Oxford, Kansas. He worked on the pipe line laying pipe. In 1922 he was working on the railroad section line helping lay ties. He worked until noon and was so tired that he couldn't stay awake. He said some Mexican hands finished their lunch and had taken a couple of sticks, fastened them together to form a cross and put it up at his head to resemble a grave marker. They then went on back to work leaving him asleep. He said he didn't think they were able to wake him up to go back to work when they reutrned to the job.
His father was also in an oil field worker in 1922-1923. His father ran a casing crew in the oil field in Shidler, Oklahoma. Elmer worked for him and got his back injured while casing a well. The rig jerked him across and under the bull wheel when the rope he was holding broke. He had trouble with his back for the rest of his life.
His grandfather, Robert Andy Holmes, ran a blacksmith shop in Leedey, Oklahoma in 1909.
In April 1927, he worked for the Iten Biscuit Company, which later became the National Biscuit Company. He worked for this company until April 1942. He was off for a while due to poor health, but went back to work for them in October 1945. He worked there until July of 1949 when the company moved to Houston, Texas.
In the Thirties when times were slow, Elmer worked on weekends for Mr. Metts in his barber shop while working a few days at the plant. and doing barber work on weekends. He kept his family going by working many odd jobs when he could find them.
He worked a while for the Oklahoma Railway Company driving a street car, and for Katz Drug Store. He also worked at Douglas Aircraft Sheet Metal from 1943 to 1945. On August 3, 1945 he worked at Tinker Field Air Force Base in Oklahoma City first installing oxygen bottles on B-29 superfortresses. He was working on hydraulic controls for supersonic jets when he retired.
Retired from Tinker AFB after 19 years on October 30, 1969
