Longtime HGTV stars Ben and Erin Napier are often credited with transforming their hometown of Laurel, Mississippi, evolving from a run-down small town to a bustling destination. But the couple insists many have been involved in Laurel’s revitalization — perhaps no one more so than Judi Holifield, a local icon many “Home Town” fans will remember from her episode of the show in 2019.
Holifield died on December 13, 2025, at age 71, according to her obituary. Four days later, Erin shared a post about Holifield in her Instagram Stories and lovingly wrote, “She started all this. And we were so lucky to know her.”
Erin Napier Says She & Her Friends Leaned on Judi Holifield When They Returned to Laurel
Holifield, spent many years as a music education teacher, according to her obituary, before serving from 2011 to 2020 as executive director of Laurel Main Street, an organization dedicated to creating a “vibrant and sustainable Downtown Laurel,” per her obituary. But she’d already been working to try to bring Laurel back to life before that.
A social media tribute from Laurel Main Street said, “Judiâs legacy goes beyond her physical work. Her legacy lives on in every former student who hung on to their love of music long after her class; in every small business owner or employee that she encouraged with her unique mix of empathy, tough love, and wit; and in every friend who ever took her up on her open-porch policy.”
The tribute continued, “Her influence in the classroom and through Main Street have given so many of us the courage to pursue what we love. She would shrug off the gratitude, but our hope is that she always knew how deeply she was loved by those she touched. She is irreplaceable.”
When the Napiers and their friends graduated from college and settled back in Laurel, deciding they, too, wanted to help the town they loved thrive, they leaned on Holifield for help, Erin told Southern Living.
But around 2008, when they and some friends moved into rough lofts in town, the outlook was bleak.
She said, “When we all came home from collegeâMallorie and Jim Rasberry, Emily and Josh Nowell, Ben, and meâwe were the only people who lived downtown. It was just us and the feral cats. For the six of us, all in our twenties, it was like a game: How can we make downtown Laurel feel alive again?”
Of Holifield, Erin said, “”She’s a force,” says Erin. “I mean, we were just kids, but Judi knew how to get grants and really make things happen.”
Judi Holifield Said Revitalizing Laurel Was ‘Personal’ to Her
“Laurel is personal to me,” Holifield told Southern Living when it profiled the town’s resurgence. “I did some work for the Laurel Retail Merchants Association in the ’70s. I watched the town die and saw the people try to save it.”
In a Q&A with the Napiers’ Laurel Mercantile blog, she recalled, “We had 34 empty buildings when I took this job. Itâs so funny to think about now, but I would sit in this office and literally take a nap because there was nothing to do and ask myself, ‘What do you think you are doing, Judi?’”
Holifield appeared on season 3 of “Home Town,” when she purchased The Overstreet House for her and her son. According to her obituary, she is survived by three children, including her son Allen, who still lives in Laurel.
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