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The owner of a longtime Elkin family business, Sigmond Wallace "Wally" Holcomb Jr., died Tuesday at The Joan & Howard Woltz Hospice Home in Dobson after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 81.

A graveside service will be held at 1:00 p.m. Friday, August 14, 2020 in Hollywood Cemetery with a reception to follow at Cedarbrook Country Club.

He born Nov. 2, 1938, in Elkin, NC, to Sigmond and Laura Ruth "Larry" Holcomb.

Raised in Elkin, he graduated from Elkin High School in 1958. He played basketball, football and tennis. The tennis team, coached by Lewis Alexander, regularly took on and defeated much larger metro schools. "It was hard for us to get matches, we were so good. We just always won," Wally said shortly before he died.

As a teenager he became an avid ham radio operator and maintained a license throughout his life.

He attended UNC and then transferred to Wingate College where he played on the tennis team. In one match he defeated the top-ranked player in the state. "My backhand was really good that day. I didn't miss many backhands."

He joined the US Air Force for four years where he served in northern Michigan. "It was cold. The first year it was miserable, but the second year I learned to ski and we would go just about every day we could."

That same year he left the Air Force and moved back to Elkin, where a son, Sigmond III, was born. He joined Xerox and moved to Charleston, SC, and then to Augusta, GA, where a second son, Clayton, was born. In 1966 he moved back to Elkin. "My dad and my Uncle Jones talked me into coming back and joining the family business, Holcomb Bros. Plumbing and Heating."

A third son, Jones, was born in Elkin.

Wally joined the Elkin Jaycees and Sertoma and was a contributing member for years to come. He resumed playing tennis and could be found playing regularly on the courts at Cedarbrook Country Club. He played regional and state tournaments. "I'd win some and lose some."

He also gained a private pilot's license and would fly friends and family locally and cross-country.

In 1985 he took over the management of Holcomb Bros. and under his leadership the company provided services on many major construction projects, including the new Lowes headquarters in North Wilkesboro.

Following a divorce, Wally met Marcia Cockerham. "Sigmund and I went to the bar at the Sheraton in North Wilkesboro. I saw her there and asked her to dance. I asked her to dance about five times and she kept saying no." Eventually they danced, love bloomed and in 1991 they were married at Galloway Episcopal Church in Elkin.

The couple took an interest in sailing, with Wally the skipper regularly in yacht races on Lake Norman on their boat, "The Hawk," a 31-foot Hunter. He put the same energy into sailing that he had into tennis. "We were pretty good. We won a few races. I loved the challenge." They enjoyed inviting friends along as crew and companions. Their lives revolved around sailing, racing and activities at Lake Norman's F Dock.

In 1999 he sold Holcomb Bros. and he and Marcia retired to Beaufort, NC. They sold "The Hawk" and bought an old Pearson 424, a 42-foot sailboat, and spent five years completely rebuilding it. They spent the next five years aboard the rechristened "Half Moon," sailing as far north as the Chesapeake Bay, as far south as The Bahamas and the Florida Keys and around the Gulf of Mexico to New Orleans. "Those were good times, Marcia and I doing it together."

Marcia and Wally eventually built a house in Beaufort and sold the boat in 2005. Wally, idled ashore, went back to work in the plumbing and heating business out of New Bern.

In 2018 Wally and Marcia returned to the Tri-County Area, settling in Wilkesboro, to be closer to their children.

Surviving, in addition to his wife, are three sons, Sigmond III (Shannon Farmer), of Taylorsville, Clayton (Brittany), of Elkin, and Jones (Debbra Murphy), of San Antonio, TX; three grandsons, four granddaughters, one great-grandson and numerous step children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren; and a brother, Dan, of Sedona, AZ.

"My family was the best part of my life."

Online condolences may be made at www.jkennedyfsl.com

John Kennedy funeral director is assisting the Holcomb family.