Elmore Holmes III was an attorney for 47 years. He practiced corporate law at one of the city's most prestigious law firms until he died Monday at Methodist University Hospital of a heart attack at the age of 75.
     He was also an artist who put his observations of nature and of people in watercolors.
     Mr. Holmes graduated first in his class from the Vanderbilt School of Law in Nashville in 1958 and returned to Memphis, his hometown, to practice law.
     His grandfather and great-uncle had served as judges.  J. Elmore Holmes, his grandfather, was a charter member of the Memphis and Shelby County Bar Association.
     Mr. Holmes joined what is now the Armstrong Allen law firm in 1958. He became a partner in the law firm in 1968.
     His last day at work was Friday, said his wife, Sara Matthews Holmes.
     "He would have been at work Monday if he had been on his feet," she said.
     Mr. Holmes was a founder of the Community Legal Center and for his work with the center he was honored in 1997 with the Tennessee Bar Association's Pro Bono Award.
     "He was a stickler and a perfectionist," his wife said. "But he also had a light touch with everyone. He was a mentor to many younger lawyers and he enjoyed the teaching role."
     The same year he joined the law firm, Mr. Holmes began teaching adult Sunday school classes at St. John's United Methodist Church. He also sang in the church choir and served on the administrative board.
     To help with the Sunday school classes, he would often use his own illustrations and maps. They were part of a lifelong appreciation of art that included watercolor paintings of family and of people that Mr. Holmes encountered while traveling. He also painted landscapes and recently painted a series of birds he had observed.
     His daughter, Sally Holmes Thomas of Memphis, said her father considered his paintings a "private indulgence."
     "His friends and family will remember him with affection as, simultaneously, a corporate lawyer moonlighting as an artist and an artist moonlighting as a corporate lawyer," she wrote.
     In addition to his wife and daughter, Mr. Holmes leaves a son, John Elmore Holmes; a sister, Eula Holmes Sanders; and four grandchildren, all of Memphis.
     Funeral services will be today at 1 p.m. at St. John's United Methodist Church.
     Canale Funeral Directors has charge.