Longtime Milpitas resident and community leader Herbert Holloway passed away Jan. 6 at the age of 80. Holloway was active in the Milpitas community for decades, as an original member and Chair of the Sunnyhills Community Breakfast, former board member at the Milpitas Lions Club and Sunnyhills United Methodist Church, and a member of the NAACP and black caucus of Milpitas. He received a governor's award for his historic preservation efforts in Milpitas, and was inducted in 2003 into the Milpitas Black History Leaving Legacy Hall of Fame.

Herbert Hoover Holloway was born Oct. 7, 1928 in Glendale, Arkansas, came west before World War II to break a number of "firsts" for African-Americans in white society while living up in Marin County. Holloway was the first African-American to play football at California's Tamalpais High School. He later attended the College of Marin, and served for the U.S. Army in the Korean War, retiring after 30 years as a Sergeant Major.

Holloway moved to Milpitas from San Francisco in 1958. It had been eight years since he served in the Korean War and about four years after he and his wife Vennie had married. The young couple looked for a good place to raise a family and Holloway said that he heard Milpitas was a nice community. They bought a newly constructed house in the Sunnyhills neighborhood, and remained there.

Holloway, was legendary among a small circle in the Sunnyhills community. His animated smile and warm extending of friendship kept a special atmosphere in the half-century old tradition of the monthly Sunnyhills Community Breakfast at the Methodist church.

That institution had turned into the longest running adult education kind of get together. It always pulled in civic and school officials, elected and appointed, to tell about their challenges. It opened the rare opportunity for dialogue between ordinary citizens and those who make important decisions affecting them. Holloway rose at 4 a.m. on the first Sunday morning of the month for 47 years to brew the coffee and organize the free community breakfast inside Sunnyhills United Methodist Church's hall. Even if it did start at 7 a.m., it always proved an important communication link for the participants.

In Milpitas he was a dedicated director and trustee on the boards of his church, a Charter Member of the Milpitas Lions, NAACP and the Black Caucus of Milpitas. His work as a sort of "permanent" chair of the Sunday breakfasts was very special for all those who came in contact with him.

Burial services were held Jan. 13 at the Sacramento Valley National Veteran's Cemetery in Dixon, Calif. A memorial is planned Jan. 31 at 1 p.m. at Sunnyhills United Methodist Church, 355 Dixon Road, Milpitas.