Texas woman attempting to make contact with girlfriend of son killed in car accident

Travis Holder died in an auto accident near Hayti, Mo., in April 2000.

A Texas woman searching for her late son's Cape Girardeau girlfriend may not succeed but she has already touched the heart of one area mother.

P.J. Mobley of Marshall, Texas, placed an ad in the Southeast Missourian last weekend asking for help finding a woman she believes is named Carol Reynolds. Mobley's son, Travis Holder, died in an auto accident near Hayti, Mo., in April 2000 on his way to Cape Girardeau from Texas.

Mobley wants Reynolds, if that is her name, to know why her son broke off contact. It has taken her this long, Mobley said, because the death of her only child was devastating.

"This has been very hard to deal with," she said. "I had to get over it before I could do this."

Pauline Semancik of Dutchtown didn't know Holder, a construction worker who got an apartment in Cape Girardeau while employed by a contractor on a job for Procter & Gamble. But when she saw the ad, it touched her and she called Mobley.

The call lasted nearly two hours and included Semancik giving Mobley every telephone number in the Cape Girardeau phone book that had the name Carol or initial "C" with a last name beginning with R.

"I have been very fortunate," Semancik said. "I have six children and haven't lost one. She had lost her only son, so yes, we talked for some time."

Emotional support

Semancik is 70 and Mobley is 60. Mobley told Semancik that her husband has been encouraging her to start traveling to help overcome the loss of her son. Semancik said she offered to show the couple around Cape Girardeau if they come and also encouraged her to travel.

Semancik said she cherishes the time she spent traveling with her late husband, who worked at the National Weather Service stations in Cape Girardeau and Cairo, Ill., before retiring.

"I told her by all means to get out and do some traveling with your husband while you are able," Semancik said.

Mobley believes Holder's apartment in Cape Girardeau was on West End Boulevard. But she never visited to retrieve his belongings.

Holder's heart valves were harvested for transplant, as was skin and other tissues. Mobley said she was upset when her son told her he had registered as an organ donor, but gave her consent after his death.

"After losing him, with the mental pain it was causing me, I thought that if I could help someone from losing another life or feeling that pain, I had to do it," she said.

Anyone who knew Holder or his girlfriend can call Mobley at (903) 938-0520.

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611 extension 126