Roberta 'Bobbi' Anne Holliday

Roberta 'Bobbi' Anne Holliday, 88, of Elyria, passed away peacefully in the early morning of Monday, July 15, 2024 at The Normandy Care Center in Rocky River, Ohio, where she had been a resident for the past two years. Bobbi was born January 14, 1936, to Fletcher and Nell (née McMillian) Holliday at Elyria Memorial Hospital. She was the youngest of seven children and the last to pass away. Her two eldest siblings were her maternal half-brother, Clifford Cheshire Cathey, and her half-sister, Lucille 'Lulu' Glynn Cathey, children of Nell McMillian and Clifford Jennings Cathey. Eleanor, Dorothy 'Dotty,' Phyllis 'Fifi,' and Richard 'Dicky,' were her full biological siblings. Bobbi graduated from Elyria High School, where she was a flutist in the marching band, and attended Kent State University and Mary Washington University. Then, she returned home to Elyria to help her mother, where she completed her Bachelor of Arts in education at Baldwin Wallace University. Later, she went to Case Western Reserve University, where she studied music and worked toward her master's degree. She also studied flute privately at the Cleveland Institute of Music. At age 22, she worked for an insurance company at Cleveland Hopkins Airport, where she met Robert Taylor Thompson, a dashing, slender, athletic 6'2" blue-eyed 22-year-old graduate of Lakewood High School, who worked for Eastern Airlines after returning home from being stationed in Alaska as a seaman in the U.S. Coast Guard. They soon married and had four children, Brian, Brad, Leslie, and Robert 'Andy' Thompson. Bobbi was a beloved yoga and flute teacher who left a lasting impression on her students through her sense of humor, purpose, and passion. She had a yoga studio in Elyria called Ganesha. She taught at Lorain County Community College, where she started the first yoga class for college credit, and at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church for several decades and several other locations. She also taught in Salzburg, Austria, for a few weeks every summer with The Cultural Studies Academy out of Slippery Rock College for several years. Bobbi was a teacher, a lecturer, a poet, an artist, a traveler, an avid reader, and the author of four books: The Grandmother Who Stood On Her Head, A Course in Yoga and Metaphysics, Archives of my Soul, and Yoga Basics with Bobbi Holliday, which is full of stick figures in yoga positions, explanations of the poses, and healthy recipes. She was a musician who recorded several tapes and CDs: The Light Weavers Celestial Awakenings with Jan Ennes, Heart Song - flute improvisations with ocean surf, and 60-minute Guided Yoga, to name a few. Bobbi hosted and attended many retreats in various locations, including Lily Dale, New York, the world's largest spiritualist community, Kelley's Island, and The Gulf Shores of Alabama. She was a member of the Three Arts Club of Lakewood, The Elyria Musical Arts Society, and the International Platform Association (IPA), with whom she annually attended conventions in Washington, D.C., and she was a founding member of the Great Lakes Gnosis Society. She taught her flute students that music is more than pleasing sounds; it's a modality for soothing our current woes. Bobbi was a stylish lady who wouldn't leave the house without being well-dressed and wearing lipstick in her favorite shade of red. When Bobbi discovered the book Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramhansa Yogananda, with an image on the cover of a long-haired yogi from India with glowing eyes, her life was changed forever. Bobbi was one of the first to teach Yoga in Northeast Ohio. It was the seventies, and her sisters thought it was weird and begged her to call it Bobbi's Stretch Class instead of Yoga. In later years, they changed their minds. Ever the generous heart, thirty years ago, she was asked by a new yoga teacher in town whether she thought there was enough interest in Yoga to teach here, and she responded, 'If there's a yoga teacher on every corner, there would not be too many.' Another quote she shared with her students: 'Free your tears while scrubbing floors or making dinner; just keep moving forward.' Another was, 'You and I don't have the luxury of negative thoughts.' At 5'2" with a petite yet curvy frame, short dark curly hair (except for at age 46 when she went blonde for a while after her amicable divorce from Bob,) brown eyes, and fair skin, she modeled yoga poses, belly breathing, and pranayama techniques while encouraging her students to ease into deeper stretches, inhale deeply, and exhale completely. Her main message was to work on becoming fully conscious, forgiving of self and others, being in the moment, positively affirming 'I am well and happy.' Bobbi has touched, transformed, uplifted, and empowered hundreds, if not thousands, of lives. She had life-long students who became life-long friends. Although teaching and lecturing came naturally to her, Bobbi considered herself a guide who provided a safe and supportive environment for physical, emotional, and spiritual growth-always encouraging her students to trust their inner guidance. Every day, she would go to one of her favorite haunts, where her Chardonnay was already there before reaching the table or bar stool. Inevitably, someone would recognize her wherever she went, and laughter and hugs were shared. This habit of dining out started in early childhood when she regularly walked to a neighbor's house on Longfellow Street and asked for bread and peanut butter! Bobbi is grandmother to Ben, Mike, Sean, Justin, Seth, Mariah, and Sierra; and great-grandmother to Kennedy, Cameron, Ava, and Piper. Roberta Anne Holliday was The Grandmother Who Stood on Her Head, who 'saw things from a different perspective and was often inwardly reflective. She sought to grow in invisible ways, often attuning to invisible rays. She forgot to bake cookies and bread - she made tofu spread! Grandmother loved to meditate and daily (well, almost) honored her date. Kisses and hugs were sent out through space as Grandmother sat in her meditation place. - I give you one more platitude: expand your mind, and you are there! Where? Wherever you want to be!' These are excerpts from her book The Grandmother Who Stood On Her Head, A Yoga Book Written Just for Kids! And Grandmas, too! Obituary written by daughter, Leslie Thompson. A Celebration of Life will be Sunday, August 11, 2024 at 3 p.m. at St. Andrews Episcopal Church, 300 Third Street, Elyria, Ohio followed by a reception at Valley of the Eagles Black River Tavern, 1100 Gulf Road, Elyria. Arrangements were in the care of Dicken Funeral Home & Cremation Service, Elyria. For online condolences, visit www.dickenfuneralhome.com