Elizabeth (Beth) Holmes

Elizabeth (Beth) Holmes
(1946 – 2023)

Elizabeth (Beth) Holmes, staff member of Madonna House, passed to the Lord while at Madonna House in Washington, DC, on Monday, October 9, after a long battle with cancer.

Born in St. Louis, MO, to William R. and Margaret Sweetin Holmes on November 19, 1946, Beth attended Mary, Queen of Peace School and Nerinx Hall high school in Webster Grove, MO, a suburb of St. Louis, then went on to receive her bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts from Marquette University, participating in the Honors Program there. In 1970, she was on her way to Montreal with some friends when they met Fr. Francis Martin in Toronto and asked if they could drive him home to Combermere and visit the community there for a few days. She became an applicant less than a year later, making her First Promises in August of 1971.

Beth served in numerous mission houses over the years: Our Lady of Aquia house in Stafford, VA; Marian Centre, Regina, SK; La Casa de Nuestra Senora, Winslow, AZ; Marian Centre, Edmonton, AB; as well as serving in various capacities at the main house of the Apostolate in Combermere.

In 1991, she was asked to help with the care of another member, Irene Toupin, who was seriously ill with an auto-immune reaction to medication. Beth and Irene had lived together in Winslow some years previous to this. Now, Irene’s love for the missions lit a fire in Beth’s own heart, and over the following years, she alternated between serving in Magadan or Krasnoyarsk, Russia, and Roanoke, VA, even serving as Local Director in Roanoke for several years.

She was diagnosed with cancer in 2007, and over the next years had remissions and reoccurrences of different types of cancer. She moved to Madonna House, Washington, DC in 2014, and remained there when the cancer reappeared. She celebrated her fifty years under Promises while in Washington since travelling during COVID and while still undergoing treatment would have been risky.

Beth was predeceased by her parents, her step-mother, and her sister, Meg Schoen. She is survived by her brother, Bill Holmes and his wife, Jane, her sister, Patricia Berry

A Memorial Mass was celebrated On Tuesday, October 17th, at St. Joseph’s Capitol Hill Parish in Washington, DC. There will be a reception of the body at St. Mary’s Chapel, Madonna House, Combermere at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, October 23, with Visitation from 2-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. A Wake Service will be held that evening at 8 p.m. in the St. Mary Chapel. The Mass of Christian Burial will be at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, October 24 in the St. Mary’s cemetery, with reception following.