Jim Holzmark met Barbara Sloman on Saturday, Nov. 30, after Thanksgiving in 1963. They romanced between Los Angeles, where Jim was living, and Columbia, Mo., where Barbara was a senior at “Mizzou.” On that Saturday night, their first date, Jim asked Barbara to visit him in Los Angeles during semester break, or spring break, and when Barbara said she could not do that, he asked her to marry him! It only took Jim until Christmas vacation to really propose to Barbara, and on Saturday, Jan. 4, 1964, Jim formally proposed. They announced their engagement on Sunday, Jan. 5, Jim’s father’s birthday. They were married on Saturday, March 7, 1964, in Los Angeles, and their married life began.
Barbara gave birth to Leslie in April 1966, and to Julie in January 1969. The happy foursome lived in Los Angeles and after the amazing “earthquake” in early 1971, Barbara and Jim were transferred back to Kansas City in August 1971, where they have lived ever since. Brian, their son, was born in May 1972 at Menorah Hospital where both Barbara and Jim were born.
All three children married and to date, only Julie lives in the Kansas City area. Julie married Paul and they have two children, Matt, 16, and Allie, 12. Leslie married Steve and they live in Denver, where Steve grew up, with their two children, Daniel, 14, and Jenna, 10. Brian was married twice before and is now married to Becky. They live in Columbia, S.C., with Becky’s son Seth, who is 17. Brian is a career man in the Army Reserve and in his 13th year with the Army. Brian has two sons in the Kansas City area, Brandon, 13 and Drew, 10, and two sons in southern Missouri, Jaden, 9, and Ethan, 6.
On Thanksgiving night, this past year, all the children and grandchildren and a niece and nephew from the Davenport area with their two grown children surprised Barbara and Jim with a wedding ceremony in which they renewed their vows and were given a second honeymoon to the Elms Hotel in Excelsior Springs. Saturday morning, Barbara and Jim hosted all the family at Harrah’s for breakfast.
The happy couple have plans to spend their 50th Anniversary at their home at the Lake of the Ozarks on their anniversary.
After their “third” honeymoon, they will be at home in Leawood, ready to welcome family and friends.
