Doc Holcomb and the Store at Coal Mountain

William Emory "Doc" Holcomb was a longtime fixture in the Coal Mountain community. Born in 1913, he was named for Dr. William Emory Lipscomb, the doctor who delivered him, and the nickname "Doc" stayed with him for life.

The W. E. & Pearl Holcomb Store

In 1934, Doc's father, Starling Washington Holcomb, opened a general store at the intersection of Highways 9 and 369. After Starling died in 1942, Doc and his sister Pearl took over the business, which became known as the W. E. & Pearl Holcomb Store.

The store carried groceries, hardware, feed and fertilizer. It also became a gathering place where local residents stopped to sit and talk. At a busy crossroads in Coal Mountain, the store was part business and part visiting place, and Doc was the steady presence behind the counter.

Pearl retired from the store in 1971, leaving Doc to continue operating it.

By then, Doc had become such a fixture in the community that the people affectionately called him the "mayor" of Coal Mountain.

The 1974 Robbery

Early on the afternoon of October 21, 1974, Doc was alone in the store counting money in the cash drawer when three men entered, surrounded him and drew revolvers. They ordered him onto the floor behind the counter and bound his hands behind his back with tape.

The robbers took the money from the drawer, including 37 $100 bills, along with Doc's billfold. Before leaving, they stomped him in the back of the neck. Doc managed to reach the door in time to see them drive away in a blue Mustang.

Doc's Later Years

Arthritis eventually made the day-to-day work more difficult, but Doc continued going to the store nearly every day to visit with the people who stopped there. The store was where Coal Mountain knew to find him.

Holcomb's Store closed on August 31, 1987, after 53 years in business. Doc died less than a month later, on September 24, 1987, at age 74.

For generations of Coal Mountain residents, Holcomb's Store was a place to buy what they needed, catch up with neighbors and visit with Doc.

Sources

• Building on a Firm Foundation: Coal Mountain Baptist Church, The First Hundred Years, 1988.
• "Area Store Is Robbed," Forsyth County News, October 23, 1974, page 1
• Georgia Supreme Court, Hampton v. State, 238 Ga. 608 (1977)