b'C o m m u n i t yFar Left: Artistic rendering of the Holmes family: Billy (Jr.), Bill and Barbara; Above: Bill Holmes posing aboard his Somethin Else race boat; Left: Young Billy presenting the citys first Gulf Coast Marine Celebrates100hp outboard motor; Below: Billy and Bill Sr. in the 1970s.70-Year Family Business LegacyHow a World War II Navy veterans outboard motor shop grew into the largest saltwater boat dealership on the Texas Gulf CoastBill Holmes served as a coxswain aboard a U.S. NavyBill Holmes, Sr., was a student of innovation in marinewould grow into a family business legacy in the Coastal landing craft mechanized (LCM) boat during World Warpropulsion and applied his knowledge to his love forBend and a leader in the saltwater boating industry.II, staging in the Philippines for a full invasion of the Jap- powerboat racing. It was at one of those races that heBy the time Billy was eight, he was working over the sum-anese mainland, at the end of the War in the Pacific. Tru- met Barbara Striegler the year after he started his busi- mer at the shop rigging boats. He remembered, Dad got man sent the Enola Gay to finally end humanitys deadli- ness in Corpus Christi. They were soon married, and Gulfout of powerboat racing and started selling some sail-est conflict, sparing Holmes and hundreds of thousandsCoast Marine officially became a family business. boats, and we would race in the regattas downtown. I of his fellow American patriots an invasion that wouldEarly in the companys history, shortly after legendarywanted to be a naval architect and would draw boats for have been as deadly as D-Day was in France, a year earlier. yachtmakerRichardBertramstartedbuildingboatshours and hours. I soon learned that there were less than Dad used to race motorboats, that was his thing, saidcommercially in 1961s, Gulf Coast Marine became theten naval architects employed in the whole country, so it Billy Holmes (Jr.), owner of Gulf Coast Marine, of hisfirst Bertram Yacht dealer in Texas, in 1963. was very limited.fathers time after the war. He bought Gills OutboardI would get into the boats and pretend like I was drivingBilly was selling boats at Gulf Coast Marine by age 14, and Shop on South Staples and that became Gulf Coast Ma- them like Dad, Billy recalled, one day, he gave me oneenrolled in the Distributed Education (D.E.) program at rine, Holmes explained about the companys first loca- of those red shop rags and said, if youre gonna be outKing High School when he was a senior, which allowed tion, from there, he moved to Morgan [Avenue] in thethere in the boats, you might as well be dusting them off.him to attend classes in the mornings and then work af-building where Grunwald Printing is now. The year I wasI was six or seven. Thus began Billy Holmes career in theternoons in the family business. After high school, Billy born, they moved to the bigger place on Port [Avenue]. boating industry, as the first seed was planted in whatand his parents devised a plan that would send him to 72THECOASTALBENDMAGAZINE TheCoastalBend.com'