Holmes is a good man

To the editor,

A couple or three years ago I lost my heater during a bitterly cold period. My water had frozen and I was using space heaters. After paying almost $200 for a heater service call, I was told it wasn’t the heater, it was the fuel line. My electric bill was over $300 a month so I decided to invest in a Kerosun heater. After calling all over the valley, I found what I was looking for at True Value Hardware in Willow where I met Mr. Holmes. He was very busy so I had time to complain to the other customers about my heating issue. There were several theories and possible solutions discussed. Overhearing the discussion, Mr. Holmes offered to come and help me assess the situation. And as busy as he was, he took time between customers to assemble the heater for me as I have the dexterity of a rock.

Mr. Holmes took a lot of time and effort to discover that some gasket material was blocking the outgoing fuel line and I had just bought my annual 100 gallons of fuel. He came back with two 50 gal. drums and a hand pump. He and I were outside for hours in -20 plus temperatures. Even after pumping out the fuel, it was a big production to remove the gasket material and as you can imagine, you don’t get much help from a rock. In spite of my ineptness and the bitter cold, Mr. Holmes was patient and kind. I tried to pay him and he refused. I persisted so Mr. Doyle charged me what I would call a “token” fee. I was sincerely touched by his generosity.

Months later when reading the Frontiersman, I realized who Mr. Holmes was. In my experience, I have never met a man with his status to be all the things he was to me: kind, patient, generous and most importantly, a good human. All I really know about him is what I read in the paper but, on a personal level, he has a fan for life.

Della Dempsey

Wasilla