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A resolution honoring the life of Professor Vinita Davis Holman.
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WHEREAS, Professor Vinita Davis Holman passed away just before 8:30 pm on December 20th, 2022, at the age of 78; and
WHEREAS, Davis Holman was born on March 2, 1944, the oldest of four children born to Reverend Dr. Henderson S. Davis, Sr., Historiographer of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and Ruth Vinita (Patterson) Davis, sculptor, painter, artist, and humanitarian, in Detroit, Michigan; and
WHEREAS, Davis Holman learned how to play piano and organ at an early age and sang in many of the churches her father pastored, in states ranging from Ohio and South Carolina to Indiana and Wisconsin; and
WHEREAS, Davis Holman graduated from Waukegan High School in Waukegan, Illinois; and
WHEREAS, she then moved to California, where she completed her Bachelor's Degree from San Jose State University in 1976, while caring for her first child, Shirley Carter; and
WHEREAS, Davis Holman earned her Masters of Business Administration from the prestigious University of California, Berkeley; and
WHEREAS, Davis Holman gave birth to her second child, Kenetha Rogers, and continued her quest to be a provider and leader, studying arduously for the Certified Public Accountant exam, staying up long nights while her baby slept in the bed next to her, surrounded by accounting and business books; and
WHEREAS, Davis Holman passed her exam and achieved the designation of Certified Public Accountant, a position she maintained throughout her life and career; and
WHEREAS, Davis Holman packed her belongings and young children, and drove cross country to Nashville, where she changed into business attire in a North Nashville filling station restroom on her way to an interview for a teaching position at historic Fisk University; and
WHEREAS, Davis Holman accepted a position as a Professor of Accounting at Fisk University in the 1980s, where she lived in faculty housing at the corner of D.B. Todd Blvd and Mor...
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