by Margaret Johnson
Florence Adeline Holden, 96, of Perryville, formerly of Little Rock, passed away Aug. 6, 2013. She was born in Independence County (Mitchell's Cove) located three miles west of Locust Grove, Ark. in 1916. Visually impaired from birth, she attended the Arkansas School for the Blind at age 9 in 1925, graduating in 1936. She served as the recording secretary for the ASB Alumni for 25 years. Adeline married Chester Hamilton Holden in Pine Bluff on August 9, 1950. They were married for 42 years until his death on July 26, 1993.
Adeline was preceded in death by mother Kate Rutledge Foushee; her father, Fount Louis Foushee; her brothers Fount Louis Jr., Easrom Dewey, Lee Frank, Herman Russell, Barr, and Charles; her sisters Elizabeth, Virgie B. Keller, and Hazel P. Niehaus.
Adeline was active in all consumer organizations of and for the blind in Arkansas. She belonged to the Arkansas Council of the Blind, and served several years as president. She was a member of Antioch Missionary Baptist Church of Little Rock from 1968 until her death.
When those of us in Arkansas think of Adeline, we think also of her husband, Chester, because they worked as a team on everything. They both were quite active in helping to establish the Arkansas Radio Reading Service, and when Adeline retired from the health department, she donated the $500 given to her as a retirement present to the radio reading service. There were all those dinner parties at their house, with crowds of friends filling every room except the bedrooms. There were all those trips to the national conventions of the American Council of the Blind where we shared lunch in their hotel room, where they hosted the Arkansas caucus. Then there were the times when they had their friends and ours, Bill and Erline Bauer, over to help Chester study the Sunday school lesson he was to teach the next Sunday. Of course, this event included a serving of Adeline's freshly baked pie and cups of coffee.
When Adeline and Chester were able to participate in the Arkansas School for the Blind Alumni Association, they seemed to make everything run smoothly, and they really had a concern for the students at the school and blind people in general. Their lives were filled with church activities, the ASB Alumni Association, the American Council of the Blind that they brought to Arkansas in 1970, Adeline's job at the Hearing and Speech Clinic at the Arkansas State Health Department, and Chester's work in the Arkansas Business Enterprise Program for the Division of Services for the Blind that included the RSVA affiliate of the American Council of the Blind.
Adeline was interred at Pinecrest Memorial Park, right beside Chester.
Adeline and Chester are in a much better place, but we do miss them, and we will remember them the rest of our lives.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Missionary Baptist Seminary at Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, 5300 Stagecoach Rd., Little Rock, AR 72205.