Family affair: Deputy retires after 26 years

Published 12:50 pm Friday, April 1, 2011

When members of the Hollingsworth family say law enforcement is the “family business,” they are not exaggerating.

In four generations, five men have a combined 120 years of experience.

On Thursday morning, son, father, uncle and grandfather watched as Deputy Mike Hollingsworth was honored as he retired from the Warren County Sheriff’s Department.

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In 26 years in law enforcement, he has worked in Clinton, Raymond, and Mississippi Department of Corrections. He’d been with Warren County since 2002.

“It’s been an enjoyable career,” Hollingsworth said. “It has been very satisfying being able to help people. That is the main thing.”

Less than two years into his job in Warren County, Hollingsworth was critically injured when he was hit by a speeding car as he directed traffic on U.S. 80 near Glenwood Funeral Home. In a Jackson hospital for six weeks, Hollingsworth had brain injuries that kept him in a coma for two weeks.

“It is an amazing story of recovery,” Sheriff Martin Pace at the gathering for Hollingsworth at the Warren County Jail.

“He could have taken a medical way out, but he put his heart and soul into recovery and returned to the force,” Pace said.

The family got its start in law enforcement in 1948 when his grandfather Robert Hollingsworth, now 92, became one of the first officers of the Mississippi State Highway Patrol. After eight years in the state job, he worked as an assistant chief with the Vicksburg Police Department before being named head of security at Anderson-Tully Lumber Company.

He joked about his sons, grandson and great-grandson following in his footsteps. “I told them not to, but they didn’t listen.”

Sons Robert E., and Jack, father of Mike, have served since the 1960s in various agencies around the state.

“I’m very proud of our family for the police background,” said Jack Hollingsworth, a former officer with the VPD and employed by the Mississippi Department of Corrections since 1997. “Plus, it gives us something to talk about at family reunions.”

The youngest generation, Dale, 22, son of Mike, started his career with the VPD in 2006 and is now a member of the Clinton Police Department.

“I didn’t know anything else,” Dale said. “I didn’t want to know anything else.”

Mike Hollingsworth’s uncle, Robert E. Hollingsworth, also is a former member of the Vicksburg and Jackson police forces and was in law enforcement for the state’s Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agency. Before retirement, he was head of security for WorldCom in Clinton.

“Mike has always been a dedicated professional officer,” Pace said. “He never lost sight of the most important mission, to serve the public. I am proud to have served alongside him.”

Mike Hollingsworth said he has accepted a position with security at River Region Medical Center.