Felix Holmes, of Hemphill, has been awarded the Rodney Peters Civil Rights and Humanitarian Memorial Award for promoting community civil rights.

Holmes, 52, has worked for the U.S. Forest Service for 31 years but his entire life has been devoted to helping the community and its needy citizens, said Larry Bonner, a Forest Service spokesperson, in making the presentation.

Holmes was born in Nacogdoches and grew up in the Thomas Jefferson Community of the Hemphill area. His father died when he was five and he was raised by his mother, Luella Holmes.

"Felix has constantly offered help to the elderly and has served on numerous boards. He was a member of the Hemphill High School site base committee that is instrumental in making recommendations to the school board on management and improvements to the high school," Bonner said.

"He is the primary leader for the Macedonia Community Cemetery where he volunteers to maintain the cemetery and devotes hours to insure it is kept in immaculate condition. And Felix has been a member of the Thomas Johnson Civic Club for six years and works tirelessly with the club to keep Hemphill free of litter," he said.

Bonner told the crowd of more than 250 attending the ceremony at the Pitser Garrison Civic Center in Lufkin that when Hurricane Rita hit Texas in September 2005, Holmes offered the use of a building he and a friend owned as shelter.

"During the hurricane and for six days afterwards, Felix housed more than 100 evacuees. He cooked meals for the evacuees after working 12 to 14 hours per day at the Sabine National Forest, Bonner said.

The Rodney Peters Civil Rights and Humanitarian Memorial Award is named in memory of Rodney Peters, who died on May 20, 2004, in an all-terrain vehicle accident while he was working in the Angelina National Forest.

The award recognizes a Forest Service individual or group who performs exceptionally in promoting community civil rights.

Peters was a soil scientist and a 35-year veteran with the U.S. Forest Service. He served most of his career with the National Forests and Grasslands in Texas Supervisor's Office in Lufkin. A graduate of Southern University in Louisiana, he served on three national forests before moving to Lufkin and also worked a few years in the Forest Service's Regional Office in Atlanta, Ga. He served as president of the board for Habitat for Humanity of Angelina County, volunteered as a mentor at Lufkin Middle School and served First Missionary Baptist Church as an usher, member of the male chorus and his Brotherhood group.

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