Timothy James Holien, 77, of Cando, ND passed away on Saturday, April 5, 2025 at the Towner County Medical Center in Cando, ND. A Celebration of Life Ceremony will be held on Saturday, May 17, 2025 at 2:00 p.m. at the Dunnigan-Dix Funeral Home in Cando, ND. Visitation will be for one hour prior to the service at the funeral home. Burial will be at the Sacred Heart Catholic Cemetery in Cando, ND.
T.J. Holien was born July 9, 1947 to Harold and Gerry (Sand) Holien in the home of mid wife Madge Howard just one block south of where he grew up and spent most of the rest of his life. He graduated in May of 1965 from Cando High School. He was anxious to follow in his dad’s and uncle’s footsteps and serve his county in military service, so he enlisted with the potential of serving in Vietnam. However, he did not pass his physical and was unable to serve. He was disappointed at the time but soon realized it as a gift to be thankful for.
Following in his fathers and Grandfathers footsteps, Tim was a lifelong carpenter/builder. He worked all over the country, including Colorado, Arizona, Alaska and California. One of the first big jobs he worked on, as he called it, “The Big Hole” which was the pump station between Lake Sakakawea and Lake Audubon as part of the Garrison Diversion Project. He had many stories about that job. In the Cando area he built many pole barns, houses, fertilizer plant, roofing and remodeling jobs with his dad, uncles, brothers and cousins. He had a long partnership in building with his uncle Joel Sand.
Tim shot trap and sporting clays for most of his adult life, winning some major shooting events. He participated in shoots in California, Las Vegas, Arizona and many points in between. His most talked about shoot and win was a shoot in Leeds, ND over 50 years ago in which he beat out Bob Smith, the one and only time in a shoot off for first place. The prize was a small portable radio that he used and listened to up to his last days. Then there was hunting, where to start and end. So many stories and he loved it all! He worked as a carpenter so he could hunt as his true career path, and he was very proficient at it. His main love was coyote and fox hunting and the processing and marketing of the fur. He always included his younger brothers, cousins, nephews and friends in his adventures and taught them his skills. He took and kept copious notes and photos of ALL his adventures and kept photographic journals of it all. He was very proud of being life member #35 of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation which now has more than 225,000 members. He was also proud of his life membership in the NRA.
Tim truly loved his nieces and nephews and would go out of his way to make time for them. One activity he truly enjoyed was watching them play in his yard when the families would get together. He carried in his shirt pocket a handmade cut out of a painted puppy he got from his great niece Annabelle. He had it there up to the day he passed.
Tim was also a lifelong accomplished photographer, especially back in the film era. He always had a camera at the ready and all who shared his life are thankful for the visible account of history.
TJ never owned a TV. His hobby besides hunting and shooting was reading and writing. He had several stories published in outdoor magazines and a vast history of books he had read, some several times. He always said “if a book isn’t worth reading again, it wasn’t worth reading the first time”. He was a great conversationalist and always said the best part about traveling was meeting people and talking to them. He could recount people he had met over the US and Canada and remember their names and where he met them. Tim said he had no regrets. God had given him a good life.
Tim is survived by: His sister Jeanette LaRock, Bismarck, ND; brothers Patrick (Linda) Minot, ND, Duane (Jackie), Donovan, Jeff, and Danny of Cando, ND, Uncle Joel Sand and Aunt Lorraine (Hunt) Sand, Cando, ND and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, his sister Mary Christine, Brother-in-law James LaRock and step-niece Reiny Kalin Inman.
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