Inaugural 2013: ‘Let us work until our work is done’

Here is the prepared text of Mayor A.J. Holloway’s inaugural address delivered on July 1, 2013, during the inauguration ceremony conducted at the Biloxi Civic Center.

Greetings and welcome to our distinguished guests and to my family, my colleagues, and my friends — old and new.

This is a day of new beginnings, a day of celebration for good things to come, a day of renewed commitments, and a day of reflections on the past, even as we look forward to the progress of the future.

Biloxi lives in my heart and soul and for her l hold only the deepest regard and respect and love.


I stand before you today with the desire that on this occasion, we give serious attention to our city’s future, to your expectations, to your hopes, and to the desires that we, as Biloxians, all share.

We are a city of many cultures and many creeds. It is up to us now to build on that long heritage of diversity, to shape a strong future based on our common aspirations.

For no matter who we are or where we come from, we are now all Biloxians who must share a commitment first and foremost to each other and to our city.


The words “No man is an island” never rang truer than they do today, as we strive to understand that mysterious relationship between continuity and change.

My fellow Biloxians, we may oftimes differ as to methods. But in regard to our homes, our families, our lives — we do not differ in purpose.

So let us now begin anew. And let us begin with the commitment to move forward with energy and hope, with faith and discipline, and let us work until our work is done.

Everything that you have just heard, my friends, was from my first inaugural address — on July 6, 1993 – 20 years ago this week. I still feel the same way today as I did then.

God bless all of you, and God bless Biloxi.