Just four months after his father died, Tommy Holifield followed.

“He said he didn’t know if he could make it without his dad, and I guess he couldn’t,” family friend Sandra Seale said.

Seale said Tommy Holifield was close to his father, who was a respected doctor in the Demopolis community. The younger Holifield followed his father there too, opening his own medical company, TH Medical Service.

“He took after his dad,” Seale said. Holifield was born and raised in Demopolis, but moved to Providence after he married his wife, Cyndi, 21 years ago.

“She said Demopolis would always be home to him, though,” Seale said.

The 41-year-old had suffered some health problems in the past, but Seale said he had appeared to be better lately.

“They just thought he had a virus, so this was very sudden to the family,” she said. The family is especially having a hard time coping considering they laid the elder Holifield to rest in September.

“Somehow they’re going to make it,” Seale said.

“Mrs. (Sara) Holifield is taking it hard, but she said she’s got to be strong for those grandkids,” Seale said. “She said she’s going to be there for them and Cyndi.”

Seale said Cyndi Holifield was taking the death of her husband as well as could be expected.

“She said he’s at peace now, but she’s still having a hard time believing it has happened,” Seale said.

The Holifields had three children, Christina, 19, Reesa, 9, and Josh, 8.

“(Josh) is the spitting image of his dad,” Seale added.

Tommy was the youngest of four children, leaving behind brother Reese M. Holifield, Jr. of Demopolis and sisters, Tereesa Craddock of Birmingham and Nancy Prysi of Naples, Fla., He is also survived by two half-sisters, Ashleigh Elizabeth and Emily Kathryn Holifield; his mother, Sara Middlebrooks Holifield and his step-mother, Angela Northcutt Holifield.

Visitation will be Thursday from 6-8 p.m. and the funeral will take place Friday at the First Methodist Church in Demopolis at 11 a.m.