Valerie Holeman

VALERIE HOLEMAN, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, aunt, friend and so many other titles to many loved ones, passed away peacefully on March 26, 2024 at the young age of 62, after a lengthy battle with cancer that she fought like a superhero. Valerie was born on April 29, 1961 in Baltimore, MD to Charles Webster and Evelyn Lee Smith. She grew up on the westside of Baltimore in the Lexington Terrace projects and attended Baltimore City Public Schools. Valerie was the third youngest child of nine children. As a young girl, Valerie, along with her sister Bonnie, also spent some time in Wilmington, Delaware with their maternal family. Growing up in “The Terrace” was far from easy but Valerie always said that she still had a great childhood because of the love, support and discipline she and her siblings had from their mother. Although she was not a big fan of school, Valerie remained a good student and continued her education to become a high school graduate, from Southern High School in 1979. Not only did she beat the odds of continuing school as a young African American female in the civil rights era of our country; she also did it as a teenage mom to a baby girl, born in 1978. In the years following her graduation, she held multiple jobs but her favorite, which quickly became her passion, was taking care of children. She worked at various daycare and head start centers until she ultimately started her own home daycare. Valerie loved the children and the children loved her; so much that many of them adopted her as their own mother but no one loved her more than her own three children. She will be remembered for her kindness, sense of humor, dedication, patience and her impact on the lives of those around her. She touched the hearts of many with her love, care, nurturing and supportive ways. Valerie loved music, singing, dancing, scary movies, good food, musicals and plays, karaoke and most of all her family and just spending quality time with her family and friends. Her idea of a great day would include singing and dancing and watching movies with her children and grandchildren, going to a concert with her husband, watching Brieanna and Brejae perform a dance they choreographed for her, talking and laughing and singing with her sisters, watching her four great granddaughters “talk” and play with one another on the tummy time mat and to top it all off she’d bring out her alter ego, Helena, and shut the party down doing “the booty call” and “the wobble” on the dance floor. Valerie is survived by: her husband, Edgar; her daughters, Danielle and Tiarra son Deon; grandchildren, Brieanna, Brejae, Dean and Laniyah, great-granddaughters Brooklynn, Bailee, Naobi and Beyani; goddaughter, Bria; sisters, Lorraine, Angie, Jackie, Bonnie and Karen; aunts, Thelma and Ella; and a host of other nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. She was preceded in death by both of her parents, her sister Victoria and her brothers Keith and Robert. She will be dearly missed by all who knew her, and forever in our hearts may she rest in peace.

Tributes

Valerie Holeman

April 29, 1961 - March 26, 2024