October 16, 1932 – January 30, 2025
Frederick Franklin Holmes passed away peacefully on January 30, 2025, in Lenexa, Kansas. He was 92.
Fred was born on October 16, 1932, to Margaret (Beistel) and Allan Holmes, in Tacoma, Washington. He attended the College of Puget Sound, and in 1953, entered medical school at the University of Washington. It was there that he met Grace Foege, whom he married in 1955, and they received their MDs together in 1957. After internships brought them to the University of Kansas Medical Center, they received mission training in Chicago and studied tropical medicine in London before four years spent as medical missionaries in Malaysia. Upon returning to Kansas City in 1963, Fred completed his residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in hematology and joined the faculty of the Department of Medicine at KUMC. In 1970, Fred and Grace relocated to East Africa, where they helped to develop a teaching hospital at the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center in Tanzania. Back to Kansas City again in 1972, both Fred and Grace remained on the KUMC faculty until their retirements in 2000.
Fred’s long career involved practice in internal medicine, teaching, and research, and he retired as the Hashinger Distinguished Professor of Medicine as well as Professor of the History and Philosophy of Medicine. At KUMC he directed an externally funded research program in the epidemiology of cancer, which would ultimately extend beyond Kansas to China, Hungary, and Kyrgyzstan, and he had over a hundred scientific publications. Always a curious student of life, Fred’s passion for history led him to study for and receive a master’s degree in British History in the later years of his career, and he was delighted to publish The Sickly Stuarts, a medical history of the downfall of the Stuart monarchy.
Throughout their 67 years of marriage, Fred and Grace shared adventures throughout the world, and raised their family of six children, five of whom they adopted from Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Kansas. They also shared a love of music and deep commitments to their faith and the Lutheran church in which they were both raised. Fred sang in choirs and choral groups throughout his life and enjoyed a long membership in the Barbershop Harmony Society, singing bass in numerous quartets, including the Gentlefolk quartet with Grace. Of his life, Fred has said, “I am the luckiest of men, Grace and I shared the joys of church, family, and profession. I could not imagine a better life.”
Fred is survived by his children, Heidi (Arthur Morgan) of Holden, Maine; Lisa (Imants Sics) of Clarinda, Iowa; Theodore (Connie) of Shawnee, Kansas; Julia (John McMorrough) of Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Andrew (Claudia) of Lawrence, Kansas. He was blessed with 12 grandchildren (Meredith, Katharine, Joseph and Cody Morgan; Alexander, Theodore, Samantha, Jennifer and Madeline Sics; Quentin Holmes; and Matthew and Walter McMorrough) and six great-grandchildren (Chloe and Lily Sics, Asher Ferrill, and Parker, Bodhi and Acacia Sics).
Fred is preceded in death by his wife, his parents, his brother David Holmes, and his daughter Cynthia Holmes.
Visitation will be at 9:30 am, Wednesday, February 5, with a service to follow at 10:00 am at Charter Funeral Home, 10250 Shawnee Mission Parkway, Shawnee, Kansas. Burial will be in the Resurrection Cemetery.
The family requests that anyone wishing to make a donation might do so in Fred’s name to Operation Breakthrough of Kansas City, whose mission is to help children who are living in poverty develop to their fullest potential. https://operationbreakthrough.org/
Obituary published by Charter Funerals.
