MACON, Georgia — Many of us don't think much about being able to read, but Horace Holmes says it's something he'll never take for granted.
"I just couldn't, I just couldn't read. It took me 55 [years], but I'm glad I came out. I'm glad I came out," Holmes said.
The son of migrant workers, Holmes moved through 13 different schools all while taking care of his four younger siblings. So learning to read fell by the wayside.
"I never got any of the foundation and phonics, any of the basics," Holmes said.
Holmes says being a visual learner, he relied on pictures and memorization to get through.
"I would look at pictures and put together what could've been said. I was reading through pictures and getting and understanding. That could only take you so far," Holmes said.
That became more apparent, even when completing basic tasks.
"I knew I had to take the test to drive a truck or get my driver's license, and every time I had to think how do I get through that?" Holmes said.
It was a secret he kept from his best friend, wife, everyone -- for more than five decades.
"I don't think they would've understood, because we think in our society that these are basic things that you should pick up when you're in school," Holmes said.
That's when he started taking adult classes at Central Georgia Technical College.
"I wanted to do what normal people do. Read the paper, write a letter, read a book," Holmes said.
Now, at 68-years-old, Holmes said his wife Yvonne and God helped him use his past struggle as a way to serve.
He realized it was time to share his secret when a father of three asked for help.
"The father said this, 'Will you teach me and my wife how to read, like you taught that young man we read about his story?' That was one family. It was worth it all, for that one family," Holmes said.
For Holmes, his secret became a strength.
Holmes is also a professional photographer and a pastor at World Changers Church in Macon on Wimbish Road.
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