Features
T
he murder of Blair Holt in May 2007 drew international attention to the deadly toll of gun violence in the city
of Chicago. The 16-year-old was riding the bus on his way to his after-school job at his grandparents’ store
that Thursday afternoon when a 16-year-old gunman stepped onto the crowded bus and started shooting.
Blair, an honor student, protected his friend and lost his life—a week before his 17th birthday, days before Mother’s
Day. His father, Ronald, a Chicago police officer, and his mother, Annette, a Chicago firefighter, risked their lives every
day to serve and protect and now the life of their son was tragically snatched away.
The pain of losing her only son almost killed her.
But Annette was determined that purpose would win out over her pain.
By Monica Fountain
A
nnette Nance-Holt would just sit in the psychologist’s office and cry. She was a captain in the Chicago Fire Department and
her job said she had to see the psychologist before she could return to work after the murder of her son, Blair.
“What did you like to do?” the psychologist asked her.
“Take care of my child and do things with him,” Holt answered. “That was my life.”
The psychologist asked her if she had any hobbies to which Holt responded that she had started to play golf.
The psychologist suggested she play golf to deal with her grief.
“That’s when I got mad. I think that’s what really started me on my way.”
“Have you ever lost a child?” Holt asked. “Then you must not know anything about what this feels like. ”
She never went back.
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The Well Magazine Fall/Winter 2015