Dr. Harry Sherman Holcomb, III, died on Thursday, September 19, 2013, at his home, “Warehouse,” in Franktown, Virginia. He was born on May 22, 1940 to Mr. and Mrs. Harry Sherman Holcomb, Jr., and raised in Beverly Farms, Massachusetts. He attended The Fessenden School and Milton Academy in Massachusetts, and graduated from Yale University in 1963 with a Bachelor of Arts in history. Dr. Holcomb completed his medical degree at Yale Medical School in 1968. As a young man, he embraced both service and adventure, with notable experiences including work at a mission hospital in Ghana, volunteer work in Mexico for the American Friends Service Committee, and sailing to Quebec and Labrador for the Grenfell Mission. From 1970-1972, he served in the United States Navy and was stationed at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, as flight surgeon for Operation Deep Freeze. He completed his residency training in orthopaedic surgery at the University of Virginia hospital in Charlottesville in 1977, and started his orthopaedic surgery practice on the Eastern Shore of Virginia in that same year. After practicing locally for 20 years, he worked as a traveling “locum tenens” surgeon throughout the country, with assignments that included the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He was a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

Upon moving to the Eastern Shore, Dr. Holcomb immersed himself in learning about the culture, natural environment, history, architecture, and people of the Shore, and became a beloved part of the Shore community. He committed countless hours of leadership and volunteer work to numerous organizations with his characteristic warmth, generosity and kindness. Over the years, he served on the Boards of Shore Memorial Hospital, the Arlington Foundation, and the Eastern Shore of Virginia Historical Society, where he greatly enjoyed seeing the historic 1904 log canoe “Annie C” restored for permanent exhibit at Ker Place. He was a founding director of both Citizens for a Better Eastern Shore and the Virginia Eastern Shore Land Trust. He also was one of the early volunteers and a former director of the Barrier Islands Center, where he served for many years as the Collections Manager until his recent illness. Dr. Holcomb personally catalogued over 7,000 pieces of historic Eastern Shore artifacts for the Barrier Islands Center.

Dr. Holcomb had many interests and talents, including woodworking, sailing, painting with watercolors, and studying maritime history. In his later years of “semi” retirement, he enjoyed traveling the world with his wife, Nancy. One could not know Dr. Holcomb without knowing of his passion and skill for collecting and repairing clocks. Any visitor to Warehouse would be regaled by his large collection of clocks, all of which rang, in unison, exactly on the hour.

Dr. Holcomb is survived by his loving wife, Nancy Tucker Lawson Holcomb; his sister and brother-in-law, Hilary and Al Creighton; his two nephews and their families, Mory, Sarah, Sam and Andy Creighton, and Peter and Kitty Creighton; his three step-sons and their families, Paul, Ingrid, Sophie, Carrie and John Watson, Tucker, Liz, Tatum and Henry Watson, and John Watson; and his three step-daughters and their husbands, Kellam White, Caramine White and Paul Campsen, and Somers and Jonathan Farkas.

Funeral services will be held at Hungars Episcopal Church at 11:00 on September 28. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Barrier Islands Center, P. O. Box 206, Machipongo, Virginia, 23405; or to the Virginia Eastern Shore Land Trust, P.O. Box 1114, Exmore, VA, 23350.

Online condolences may be sent to the family at foxandjamesfh.com

Arrangements by Fox & James Funeral Home, Eastville, VA.