Chapter 02: Growing Up in a Small Town in North Carolina
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Description
In this chapter, Dr. Holleman describes the working class, racially diverse community of Apex, North Carolina, where he grew up.
Identifier
HollemanWL_01_20170412_C02
Publication Date
4-12-2017
City
Houston, Texas
Interview Session
Warren L. Holleman, PhD, Oral History Interview, April 12, 2017
Topics Covered
The Interview Subject's Story - Personal Background; Personal Background; Experiences Related to Gender, Race, Ethnicity; Influences from People and Life Experiences; Character, Values, Beliefs, Talents
Transcript
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Well, you know, you've raised a whole bunch of issues that we're going to go into in depth as things unfold. But thanks for that overview. It was really nice and concise. Well, let's kind of go and start in the traditional place for an oral history interview. So let me ask you where you were born and when, and tell me a little bit about your family.
Warren L. Holleman, PhD:
Sure. I'd be delighted to. I was born in eastern North Carolina, in what was then a small tobacco farming community, Apex. Since then, it has grown from—it was less than two thousand people when I grew up. It is now fifty thousand people. And Money Magazine selected it a year and a half ago as the best small town in America. Or, best town of less than fifty thousand, or something like that.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
So is that your memory of it when you were growing up?
Warren L. Holleman, PhD:
No no no. It was—we were sort of the back corner of the county. We were near Raleigh Durham, Chapel Hill and the Research Triangle. But we were the last town in that area to be settled by all the newcomers who came in with the Research Triangle. When I was in high school, we were selected by HEW as a pilot project to study ways of improving vocational education. And we had a lot of teachers and researchers in our high school for a couple of years. And the reason we were selected, I think, was that we had such a low rate of students going to college.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Oh, okay. Kind of ironic, being so near to a research park and all that, Research Triangle.
Warren L. Holleman, PhD:
Yeah. I think there were a lot of reasons. A big reason is, we were basically 50 percent white, 50 percent black. We were much more racially diverse than the other communities. And frankly, I think that was one reason that people were less likely to move there. And then there was just the—there was not as much money in our community as the other ones.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Your parents' profession?
Warren L. Holleman, PhD:
And that has changed a hundred percent now. I read somewhere that we have the highest rate of PhDs per capita than any place in the country now.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Wow. That is a huge change.
Warren L. Holleman, PhD:
Because all the other places filled up.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Right.
Warren L. Holleman, PhD:
And then they had to come to Apex. And also, Apex' town government changed and became much more forward-thinking and progressive. And now the community is anything but. It's a very progressive community. Progressive isn't the right word, but it's a very rich and highly educated community.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Mm-hmm. What did your folks do?
Warren L. Holleman, PhD:
My father was the attorney for the town. Small-town lawyer, who did a little bit of everything.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
His name?
Warren L. Holleman, PhD:
Carl, C-A-R-L, Partin, P-A-R-T-I-N, Holleman. He was very involved in all kinds of civic activities in the community and in the Raleigh area, political activities and that sort of thing. Fairly progressive for that time and place. My mother was a nurse anesthetist. Kind of unusual at the time. She was the professional person.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
And her name?
Warren L. Holleman, PhD:
Ruth—full name is Annie Ruth Warren, was her maiden name, and then Holleman.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
So that's where your first name comes from?
Warren L. Holleman, PhD:
Yeah. Yeah.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
That's cool.
Warren L. Holleman, PhD:
And Lee, my middle name, is her mother's maiden name.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
All right. Interesting. Okay. Now, are you—have brothers and sisters?
Warren L. Holleman, PhD:
I have one brother. Technically, he's Carl Partin Holleman, Jr., but he goes by Toby.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
And let me just, since you like to play with your glasses, let me just put this paper underneath so it won't read on the recorder.
Warren L. Holleman, PhD:
Oh, thank you. Thank you.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
I don't want to take away your toy. (laughs)
Warren L. Holleman, PhD:
Well, I need something to have—
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
I won't take away your toy, but now they won't make noise.
Warren L. Holleman, PhD:
Oh, thank you. Okay.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Yes. When I interviewed Steve Tomasovic, he jingled his keys. And he realized it, and then he was, like, "Oh, I'd better quit."
Warren L. Holleman, PhD:
I didn't even think of it.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
I know. People don't.
Warren L. Holleman, PhD:
And it's right next to the recorder, so...
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Yeah, people don't realize. They have these little things.
Warren L. Holleman, PhD:
Well, we have a dialect in eastern North Carolina of clicking on some of the (clicking noise) on some of the words. So that's what that was. That's the sound.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
There we go. There we go. So you said you have a brother?
Warren L. Holleman, PhD:
Yeah, Toby.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Toby? Okay. And any other siblings?
Warren L. Holleman, PhD:
No.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Okay. Okay. So progressive family? Extravert? Social? How was—what was family life like for you?
Warren L. Holleman, PhD:
Say—be a little more specific?
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Okay. Well, what was it like—
Warren L. Holleman, PhD:
I'm not sure what to say.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
—what were you—what was sort of the atmosphere in your family, you know? Was it very educationally-focused? Sports focused?
Warren L. Holleman, PhD:
Yeah. I would say for our community, it was educationally-focused. I think my mother really was hoping my brother and me would become doctors.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Oh, okay.
Warren L. Holleman, PhD:
And they expected us to make good grades, and that kind of thing.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
What about your dad? I mean, often lawyers and doctors run in families.
Warren L. Holleman, PhD:
Yeah. And he would have loved for us to join him in his practice. We worked there in the summers oftentimes. And I think we learned a lot of law by working with him. But neither of us went in that direction. He was fine with that. I think my mom was more disappointed. She really—she was a more—dad was pretty laissez-faire and liberal, my mom was a little more controlling. She really wanted one of us to go into medicine, I think.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
What do you think the reason was for that?
Recommended Citation
Holleman, Warren L. PhD and Rosolowski, Tacey A. PhD, "Chapter 02: Growing Up in a Small Town in North Carolina" (2017). Interview Chapters. 1076.
https://openworks.mdanderson.org/mchv_interviewchapters/1076
Conditions Governing Access
Open
