Special Report: A Father’s Determination, Part 2
Meridian, Miss.
Wade Phillips
Most of Dave Holloway’s days are filled with work, that at his insurance office in Meridian, and the work he does to try to find his daughter. But every once in a while, all that work stops and he just thinks about his Natalee, and the life they shared.
“We’d spent a lot of time together. Her brother and her would come and we’d all just hang out,” said Holloway.
Dave and Natalee’s mother, Beth Twitty, divorced when Natalee was young, but she was still a major part of Dave’s life. And he recalls their every other weekend visits with fondness and a not a little bit of sadness. Dave says Natalee, even as a young girl, was driven to succeed.
“You didn’t have to tell her to do her homework; she did it. She strived to achieve, very good grades,” Holloway said.
And even during their weekend visits, she would always make sure her homework was done. But there was time for fun. Most of those weekends were spent watching movies with the family. Dave says they would sometimes venture out to the movie theater at the mall while she was here and always, always, she wanted to be in church. At the time, they attended Poplar Springs Drive Baptist.
“Every time she would come, we’d make sure she had her church clothes packed, and we’d attend church every week,” Holloway said.
If she’d make it back from Aruba, Natalee would likely have now been a sophomore at the University of Alabama, preparing for a career as a pediatrician. But Dave says he can’t allow himself to think too much about that.
Asked if he spends much time thinking about what might have been, Holloway says ‘yes’.
“But my mind is mostly set on trying to find out what happened,” he said.
And until he does that, it does not appear Dave Holloway will rest.
Video of Part 2 of interview available at above link.
