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Zimri graduated from Christiansburg Industrial Institute in 1928. He went on to<br />
college and graduated from Virginia State College for Negroes, (later renamed<br />
Virginia State College, and now called Virginia State University). Upon finishing<br />
college, he purposefully decided to return to Christiansburg Institute and teach<br />
there. Throughout his career, he pursued additional professional development<br />
at Fisk University, Hampton Institute and Virginia Tech. He stayed in the<br />
profession for 43 years and missed only 3 days of school. 55 His students knew<br />
they were expected to learn from him, and in turn, he also expected to learn<br />
from them. His words tended to be few and only what he deemed absolutely<br />
necessary, but when he spoke, people listened.<br />
LOVE: <strong>THE</strong> CHOICE OF A LIFETIME<br />
On a personal note, Zimri got married to Rosa Lee Thomas on July 30, 1940.<br />
They went virtually everywhere together during the nearly 50 years they were<br />
married. Rosa was also a teacher in Virginia. From an early age she was<br />
determined to be a teacher. Her life was marked by decisions that once they<br />
were made, there was no going back. As a teenager, the first time she saw Zimri<br />
Holmes she knew that she wanted to marry him. Teaching was her life-work,<br />
but her husband and extended family were her life. The early choices she made<br />
to go into education and to marry Zimri Holmes defined her personal and<br />
professional life.<br />
<strong>THE</strong> <strong>TIGER</strong> & <strong>THE</strong> <strong>TORCH</strong> Page | 50
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