Gregg Holbert – Obituary

November 3, 1964 – September 26, 2024

On Thursday, September 26, 2024, Gregg Holbert lost his battle with Parkinson’s disease and his spirit was finally freed from his rigid and uncooperative body.  Knowing our Gregg, his release into the spiritual means he is probably now out exploring the universe. In his time here on earth, he was a unique being. He lived his life his way, full of fun and outrageousness, marked with humor, creativity, and enquiry, rich with dear friends and loving family. His care, honesty, and charm was ever in abundance and his witticisms a delight to experience. He was very much loved, will forever be missed.

Gregg was born on November 3, 1964 to William (Bill) and Jean Holbert in Falls Church, Virginia. Moving across country with his family several times as a child he eventually landed in Euless, Texas. There graduating from Trinity High School where he enjoyed playing drums and became Drum Corps Captain. It is also where he met some of his life-long friends that he cherished.

He attended University of Texas in Austin graduating with a B.A. in Accounting while also holding down several jobs throughout his studies.  He later followed up his degree by earning his CPA. After graduation, he moved back to Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) and began his career as an accountant for Pittman, O’Daniel, Richardson & Co. There he became involved with the computing side of accounting and realized his earlier leanings to work in the field of computers was what he really wanted to do.    

Gregg then moved into the educational arena by working for several DFW public education entities.  He helped install computers and trained educators on how to use them as well as adding many other business solutions to their schools. He also helped school districts adopt and apply remote learning and training techniques far ahead of any epidemic-driven requirement. His experiences ran the gamut with his final position in education as Director of Technology for the Aledo ISD.

His experience led him to start his own business, Ezoli, LLC as a Technology Solutions Consultant that included time with Craftparts.com as their CTO.  One of his proudest achievements was co-creating the software product “N-spekt”.  N-spekt is a quality control application that is still used internationally. As if all of that wasn’t enough, he also served on the Board of the Tarrant County Access for the Homeless for ten years, which he considered a privilege.

Gregg’s inimitable style was highlighted by his ability to turn even the most ordinary days and mundane things into clever, creative expressions. He was the class comedian from his youngest days. In his free time in high school, he founded The Monotones – a random pop-up comedy and music performance troupe known to disrupt lunches and unnecessarily serious school events with original, ridiculous and brave concoctions that touched the funny-bone of the student body. [His legend lived on with an unofficial “Gregg Holbert Day” honored for years after his graduation.]

He created original films with his dorm-mates in college using what was available at that time – VHS.  He was a unicycle rider and a licensed pyrotechnics technician. He used work vacation one year to fly out west and take a weeklong hang-gliding class, a dream he had always wanted to pursue. He subbed as an actor in a dinner boat Murder Mystery Play. In addition, at Medieval Times he sometimes performed as the “King”. 

He had collected and curated pearls of wisdom and was writing a book called “The Simple Complex”, which he unfortunately did not get to finish. He was always game to try something new, even after his Parkinson’s diagnosis, when he tried zip lining in Hawaii with his niece and nephews. He was a real renaissance man who loved music, film, video games, documentaries, comedy, dancing, classic horror films, The Simpsons, playing Ingress (augmented reality mobile game), collecting quotes, reading, racquetball, playing drums, and more. He even became a Certified Stephen Covey 7 Habits instructor.  Learning, learning, learning… he wanted to be a life-long learner, and he was.

Gregg’s father, William (Bill) Holbert, predeceased Gregg.  Surviving is his loving family: his mother, Jean Holbert, Colleyville, TX; his siblings: Shelley (Terry) Aday, Bedford TX; Sheila (Paul) Gendron, Keller, TX; Guy (Sherry) Holbert, Los Barriles, Mexico, Cindy Hopwood, Mansfield, PA, and his kindred soul, Audrey Avera.  He also leaves behind his adored nieces and nephews: Haley (Craig) Martin, Alec (Ali) Gendron, Kyle (Kendall) Gendron, Corey Gendron, Shelby (Spencer) Rutledge, Vanessa Hopwood, Grant (Hattie) Hopwood; as well as their children.

A Celebration of Life is planned. For information, email a request for details to shelleywong_01@hotmail.com. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be directed to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research – “Here. Until Parkinson’s isn’t.” (www.michaeljfox.org).

With love and gratitude for the time we got to spend with him we share one of Gregg’s favorite quotes – pulled from the many you will find on a list he specifically created for you. (Gregg Holbert – Farewell Quotes (1964 – 2024) – Shelleywong’s Blog)

“You are here to enable the divine purpose of the Universe to unfold. That is how important you are!” – Eckhart Tolle