Rev. Irl Neil Holt
Rev. Irl Neil Holt 
, 90 of Vernon, Texas passed away Thursday, September 12, 2024, in Vernon, Texas.
Funeral services will be held Saturday, September 21, 2024, at 2:00 pm at First Methodist Church in Vernon, Texas. Burial will follow at Wilbarger Memorial Park under the direction of Sullivan Funeral Home.
Irl Holt was born to OM and Marie Holt on April 26, 1934, in Quanah, Texas. He was the youngest child of 6 and his oldest sister Mona was 18 when he was born. Irl was quite a mischievous boy. He remembers his mom saying to him at one point, “I hope you learn how to tie your shoes by the time you are 40!” Rumor has it that he called his mom on his 40th birthday and told her that “Yes, he had learned to tie his shoes!”
Irl graduated from Quanah High School in 1951 and went to Texas Wesleyan College. Irl remembers hitch hiking his way back to Quanah for visits. Most of the time he would get part way back and would have to hitch another ride to get further along his journey. One time a very drunk man pulled over to pick him up and handed him the keys to drive. Irl wasn’t sure how far the fellow was going, and he fell asleep so Irl just drove all the way to Quanah, woke him up, handed him the keys and thanked him for the ride.
Irl worked his way through college and one of his jobs was in the college’s cafeteria where he met the love of his life, Cleta Mason. Cleta was interested in Irl but had a boyfriend, so she borrowed her boyfriend’s car one day and asked Irl to go for a soda. Cleta and Irl’s first date was in her boyfriend’s car. Cleta took the car back, broke up with the boy and was with Irl for the rest of her life! Cleta and Irl got married in Evant, Texas, on September 3, 1954. Irl was 20 and Cleta was 9 days shy of 20. They were married 62 years, 6 months, 29 days, 14 hours and 40 minutes when his love passed from this earth.
After Cleta and Irl graduated from Texas Wesleyan in 1955, Irl entered Scarratt College for Christian Workers, in Nashville, Tennessee, and graduated in 1957. He was the Fort Worth Director of Education for Central Methodist Church from 1957-1959. He and Cleta then moved to Macon, Georgia, where Irl was the Youth Director from 1959-1961. They both moved back close to Irl’s hometown in Vernon, Texas, in 1961, where Cleta was known for saying, “I thought he moved me to the end of the earth!” She lived the remainder of her days with her love in Vernon, Texas, making many friends and raising their family.
The 60+ years that Irl lived in Vernon he had many jobs. He was the Youth Director at First Methodist Church from 1961-1963 full time and he and Cleta were part time youth ministers off and on from 1963 until at least 1989. Their children don’t remember anyone else ever being their youth ministers. They fondly remember MYF (Methodist Youth Fellowship) meetings on Sunday evenings, but most memorable were the MYF breakfasts hosted at their house in the upstairs game room. Cleta was famous for making her Monkey Bread that all the youth loved. Irl’s daughter, Janna, remembers one particular morning after breakfast when she begged her parents to let her drive her friends to school for the first time with her brand new hardship license in her father’s 1971 VW Beetle. Janna had not had many lessons driving a stick shift, so I’m sure you can picture Janna and 5 girlfriends squished in a Volkswagen Bug, stopping, starting, and jerking their way down the road to high school.
Another of Irl’s jobs was in education. He began as a middle school counselor from 1963-1975. It was while he was in this role that segregation ended in Vernon, and Irl was a big part of making the transition smooth at his school. He became the principal of Hawkins and was there from 1975-1985. From 85-89 he was the principal at the middle school. From 89-91 he was the Director of Federal Programs for VISD and then from 91-97 he was the principal at McCord Elementary. Irl loves that he began as a principal in an elementary school and ended his VISD career in an elementary school. The teachers, students and parents loved him there. Irl came home with lots of funny stories about the elementary students. One included his own son, Steven. Steven and Janna had possums for pets for a short period of time, when their grandfather found a dead momma possum on the side of the road and two baby possums that had survived. They named the possums Ford and Carter (I bet this tells you how long ago this was!) Irl had told Steven that he could take the possums to show and tell but what he didn’t expect was that one of the possums would crawl up Steven’s pants and Steven couldn’t get him out, so Irl had to take Steven out in the hallway and pull Steven’s pants off to find the possum! Irl also remembers a time when he was standing in the hallway at McCord talking to a teacher and two little girls walked by. McCord is built in a circle, so a little while later the two girls walked by again. Then, the third time Irl saw the little girls walk by he asked them what they were doing and they said, “we are looking for the cemetery.” “The CEMETERY?” Irl repeated, then said, “Are you sure you aren’t looking for the secretary?” Irl also remembers a time when he received a phone call one morning at school and the small voice on the other end of the phone said, “Emily Patterson won’t be in school today, she’s sick.” Irl said, “who is this calling for Emily?” The little girl then said, “It’s my momma.”
To commemorate Irl and Cleta’s belief in continued education, they established the Irl and Cleta Holt Scholarship Fund at Vernon College, which helps students to this day.
Irl never left ministry even with his education career. He was the pastor at Thalia First United Methodist Church from 1965-1970, and then moved to Fargo United Methodist Church the 2nd Sunday of June 1970, where he stayed until he retired in June 2021, when he finished his 50th year there. He jokingly stated that he and Cleta couldn’t afford to move churches again because they had a baby every time he changed churches. Janna was born October 9, 1965, and Steven was born August 25, 1970.
Irl loved Vernon and the surrounding communities. He and Cleta dug deep roots in Vernon, and they were very active in the community. Irl was a 55 year member of the Masonic Lodge. He was a member of the Optimist Club for 20 years and served as President. He received the Outstanding Optimist award in 70-71 and 73-74. He was president of the Community Concert Association. He was on the founding board of the Meals on Wheels program in Vernon. He was a Campfire board member and President of United Way. He belonged to the Texas Retired Teacher’s Association and was President of the Vernon Regional Retired School Employees Association. He served on the Vernon Chamber of Commerce board. He received the Doan’s May Picnic Man of the Year in 2007. He was a Lion’s Club member for years and he received the Lion of the Year award for 2017-18. He was on the Vernon College Board of Trustees from 2012-2024 and received the Northside Indian Class of 2020 Yearbook Dedication.
After Irl’s retirement from education in 1997 he received his real estate license and appraiser’s license where he worked in that realm from 1998-2016. He was a Vernon College Lady Chaps fan, a Lady Lions sports fan and an Indian and Lady Indian sports fan for years, traveling to lots of out of town games! He was even on his way to a Lady Chaps volleyball game on the day he died. He and Cleta began after-game socials for Northside athletics in 2003 and the Fargo UMC hosted many Northside Graduation parties.
Irl also had other extra-curricular activities! In his free time, you could catch Irl on the road to visit family and friends, at a table in the Vernon College cafeteria laughing with his “lunch bunch” and others, or traveling to great-grandchildren’s activities. One of Steven’s fondest memories is when he was playing in a band in the 90’s and Irl and Cleta went to see him play. Steven played alternative music so you can imagine the crowd at the concert and that Irl and Cleta didn’t look like they belonged, but they stood right up by the stage! At one point a girl from the crowd jumped up to kiss Steven and Steven says he looked out and the first thing he saw was his Mom and Dad, just standing there with the biggest smiles! He said he really appreciated all their support. Steven also stated that, “you could take Dad anywhere and he fit right in!” This is a true statement. Irl would be anywhere, and he would start talking to the people around and making himself at home. One time, when Irl was in Cuba with Steven, Steven unknowingly had parked the car they were unloading at the airport in a no car zone. All of a sudden there were several Cuban police surrounding the car, yelling at Steven. Irl calmly got out of the car and started talking to the officers. In a few moments they all started backing up and left, letting Irl and Steven continue to unload.
When asked, Irl believed he had performed around 75-100 weddings, about 30ish baptisms and about 150 funerals (79 of which were his church members). He had been involved in Northside Baccalaureate services since 1967 and had preached at approximately 25-30 of them. He was happy that he performed marriages of grandparents, parents and their children all in the same family. He married his two children and married two of his grandchildren.
Irl loved his growing family that began with his loving wife, Cleta, who preceded him in death. His daughter, Janna and her husband Jesse, have two children, Easton and his wife Carrie, with three children, Charlotte, Samantha and Clark, and Jenna and her husband Hunter, with one child, Maeve. His son, Steven and his wife Laurel with one child, Goldie and one son, Liam, who preceded Irl in death. Irl had many nieces and nephews and all sorts of friends that he considered family. Irl was a very blessed man, and we are all blessed for knowing him. He will be missed!
Visitation will be Friday, September 20, 2024, from 4:00 pm until 6:00 pm at Sullivan Funeral Home.
Memorials can be made to the Irl and Cleta Holt Scholarship Fund at Vernon College.
