About Holly

HOLLY SMITH FLANNERY

     Holly was an award-winning violinist in Arlington, Virginia when she was young, as well as a tennis pro at Congressional Country Club.

     Her dad, Dr. David Smith, formerly a surgeon, was always on the tennis court competing, indeed until his last day before his death to Leukemia (in 2005).

     Like her father and her grandfather, a renowned researcher, she early understood that a strong mind was as or more important, and so Holly graduated cum laude from George Mason University, and then Georgetown University Law Center.

     Holly was encouraged to practice law by that eminent civil libertarian, Prof. William Greenhalgh.

When Holly wasn't climbing toward the heights of Mount Everest, she was traveling the wide world from Athens to the Galapagos, from China to an African safari, from Rio De Janeiro to Budapest, Hungary, and from Iceland to Thailand to Tahiti, from Bermuda to Bali, and, lately, to India and Antarctica (you might enjoy the blog for the Antarctica trip). Holly's also visited 49 of our own United States; watch out Alaska.

When not traveling, Holly has been active in politics, is a member of the Loudoun County Democratic Committee, a past Lovettsville precinct co-captain with John, and was elected as a "Hillary" delegate to the 10th District convention and state-wide convention in the 2008 presidential primaries; John was also a delegate to the local and national convention in Colorado. Holly took a laboring oar as the co-publicity chair of the Loudoun Horse Association, and did previously apply her legal skills at the Natural Resources Defense Council to defend endangered species including the Dugongs. Holly devoted a fair amount of her energies several years ago to fighting the toxic coal-fired transmission line from West Virginia they wanted to run through the several states; it was an ensemble production of local citizens and the Sierra Club that defeated that power line.

Holly now devotes a lot of her time to her menagerie of farm animals and her (should be) patented chicken eggs, "Holly's Finest."

When not raising her daughter Alex, Holly worked for the opera at the Kennedy Center. But Alex is making her own way in the world now. In the last several years, Holly has been working to keep Loudoun green - as a Master Gardener. She was the editor for the "Garden Dispatch", Loudoun County's internal monthly newsletter for Master Gardeners, and she has written other articles for the Master Gardeners' public newsletter, "the Trumpet Vine". She's been sharing responsibility for taking care of the fruit trees, brambles and grapes in the demo garden, and trying to save the blue birds. She's also a tree steward. If you are interested in learning more, visit the Master Gardener's Web-site.

Holly is a member of the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy , and served on the Board of Directors of the Loudoun Horse Association .

Holly returned to an old role as a tennis pro teaching tennis at reasonable rates at the Lovettsville Community Center.

Oh yes, and Holly was a great help, editing John's book - Pain in America - and how our Government makes it worse!

ON MOUNT EVEREST - by Holly Flannery
     "When I climbed toward Mount Everest, it was an ambition to try something challenging, physically and psychologically.
     I was quite lucky to make two life-long friends on that climb, Mike Garner, and Ashmeet Sidana. When we assemble with family, we review and re-tell our exploits on that exciting climb.
     We linked our arms on the majestic heights of Kala Patthar, 18,200 feet above sea level, at the height of our ascent. On the way up, we visited a monastery, at Tengboche, at about 12,664 feet above sea level, purportedly the highest monastry in the world. We also visited at the village of Khumjung for a quite civilized lunch, and passed the grave stone memorials of other climbers who succumbed to the mountain weather.
      It was somewhat unnerving, therefore, that a government inspector came down the mountain while we were ascending because of the weather.
      In the end, it was a grand adventure, without any mishap to our climbing party, and we have many wonderful memories from that Sherpa-led climb to Kala Patthar."

Holly and climbing colleagues study the maps!