Dr. Phyllis Furlow Holmes

We had the privilege in 2022 to interview Dr. Phyllis Furlow Holmes during her visit to Massillon to celebrate the posthumous 99th birthday of her mother (Mary Frances Furlow Holmes). Her interview is being edited and will be available in the near future.

Phyllis Furlow Holmes, Ph.D. graduated from WHS in 1963. Her experiences of performing with her family's gospel group throughout Massillon and Ohio gifted her with discipline, humor, and gratitude while singing God's praises. Holmes performed in the Tiger Swing Band and the National Forensic Team. She was named a Washington High School Alumni Association Distinguished Citizen in 2003.

After graduation, she attended Bowling Green State University, receiving a BS in Education and Special Education in 1969, a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in Special Education in 1978, and a second Ph.D. in 1993 from the Union Institute Graduate School in Clinical in Cincinnati Psychology.

She is currently the founder, executive director, and administrator of the Renaissance Residential Care and Training Center in Detroit, Michigan, a non-profit residential facility for mentally disabled men and women ages 25-70. The facility conducts on-going research on clients as they approach their twilight years. The center provides an alternative to homelessness and provides social services, health care, education activities, and program management as well as psychological counseling and resident psychological assessment and evaluation.

Dr. Holmes has taught at various universities' education and psychology departments. She is the author of Portrait of Homelessness, a researched treatise centering on the everyday life experiences of the homeless populations. Dr. Holmes has received numerous awards and certificates for her achievements and contributions to society. Among these are: National Institute of Mental Health Graduate Fellowship; Proclamation, City of Detroit, Offices of the Mayor, 1997 Spirit of Detroit Award; 1996 Woman of the Year in Mental Health; and Provider of the Year in Gerontology, 1997.