b'C o m m u n i t ySouthwest Texas State University in San Marcos for fall semesters, and then back to Corpus Christi to work at the business in the spring and summer. When the Texas oil industry crashed in the early 1980s, Billy returned home to work full time while taking classes, at his mothers encouragement, at Corpus Christi State University, where he completed his studies.After the Texas oil industry recovered, good times returned to Gulf Coast Marine, which soon grew into the top saltwater boat dealer on the Texas Gulf Coast. Product lines expanded to include options for every fisherman and boater, from million-dollar, offshore yachts, to inshore skiffs, and everything in between, even Jet Skis. What set the company apart from its competitors was, and still is, the skill, honesty, and profes-sionalism of its service and repair departmentan aspect of boat ownership that lives long after the buying experience. Over Gulf Coast Marines 70 years in business, more than 100 boat dealerships have come and gone in the Coastal Bend.By the end of the 1990s, the center of boating activity moved away from the Corpus Christi Marina downtown and to Padre Island and Port Aransas, putting Gulf Coast Marine, which had long-outgrown its original footprint on Port Avenue, further away from most of its customers. On land that the Holmes had purchased in Flour Bluff, construction began on a massive 62,000-square-foot facility for the then-50-year-old family businessat that point, an institution in Corpus Christis business community. In 2004, Gulf Coast Marine moved into its new home on South Padre Island Drive, be- Top: First Gulf Coast Marine location on S. Staples St., started as Gill Outboards; Above: GCM was lo-tween Flour Bluff Drive and Waldron Road. cated on Port Ave. for 40 years; Below: Legendary boat builder Richard Bertram in 1963, the year GCM Over their seven decades in business, the Holmes have sold boats to some very well- became the first Bertram dealer in Texas; Bottom: GCM has been on SPID in Flour Bluff since 2004.known Texansand foreigners. Well, the most famous was probably George Strait back in the 80s, said Billy Holmes, and then there was [HEB chairman] Charles Butt, [Ft. Worth billionaires] the Bass Brothers, [oil tycoon] Clinton Mangus, E. King Gill, who was the original 12th Man at Texas A&M, [auto dealer tycoon] Charlie Thomas, [famed sculptor] Kent Ullberg, [San Antonio philanthropist] Edith McAllister, and Lord Smith, who I think was a famous English guy.Two customers who completed epic and perilous journeys in their Gulf Coast Marine vessels particularly stand out to Billy Holmes. Dr. Stan Blasier traded in a 24-foot pow-erboat for a 30-foot sailboat, and he asked me to teach him how to sail, which I did. Within five years, he had circumnavigated the earth on his sailboat. He started off with two companions, who he dropped off somewhere in the South Pacifichopefully on an islandwhen he figured out hed rather do it solo.The other guy who was memorable was John Colquitt who first ran his newly-pur-chased 22-foot [Boston] Whaler across the Gulf to Cancun, Holmes recalled. Then lat-er, he bought a 26-foot catamaran and trailered it to Arizona, and through the desert to Puerto Peac, a little town on the Gulf of California. He ran all the way south through the Panama Canal and all the way up to Key West, by the end of his trip.Any experienced entrepreneur will explain that their work is perpetualfor the ones who sign the front of the paycheck, there are no hours, only work. They do what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, for as long as it takes, until its done. In the same motion, when your occupation is what you enjoy doing anyway, work is never really workits just a way of life. Bill Holmes passed his love and fascination with boating to his son, which happened to also be his business, and Billy grew it to the next level.Bill and Barbara Holmes worked alongside their son well into their 90s, before their passing in recent years. Those who knew them together recognized their shared cool demeanor and genuine interest in whatever you wanted to gab about. Where their customers were concerned, however, they also shared the urgency and on-task atti-tude of boat racers whose only goal is to get there first and in one piece.Asharedmission,honesty,kindnessandrespectfortheiremployeesand theircustomersarewhatheldthisfamilybusinesstogetherfor70years. Thesedays,BillyHolmesisthecaptainofGulfCoastMarine,hiswife Alexandria handles the money, and their young daughter Lexi is fast becoming an expert in the boat businessjust like her dad was doing all those years ago.TheCoastalBend.com THECOASTALBENDMAGAZINE73'