James Traylor Holland

JAMES TRAYLOR HOLLAND died suddenly at M.D. Anderson hospital of a massive heart attack in the early hours of June third. Born in Houston in nineteen nineteen he was the son of Clarence Raymond Holland and Flora Stubbs Holland, the grandson of Mr. and Mrs. Clarence St.Elmo Holland and the great grandson of Wynne Traylor of the Diamond T ranch in Victoria county, all of old Texas pioneer families of Green Lake, Galveston and Victoria. He is survived by his wife of fifty two years, Cynthia Craft Holland, six children and eleven grandchildren-Leslie Virginia Holland, Clarence Raymond Holland and his wife Karen, Ryan James and Rosemary Arden Holland, of Houston, James Traylor Holland jr., his wife Amy, Sydney Arden and Claire Traylor Holland of Austin, Allison Holland-Ward, Arthur Robert, Tapley Holland, and Flora Roslyn Ward of Lubbock, Texas, Everett Alan Holland, his wife Sharon, Heather Elaine and Elizabeth Victoria Holland, of Longmont, Collorado, and Arden Kathryn Holland, Carolina and Maria Angelica Hernandez of Santiago, Chile. He is survived as well by cousins Mrs. Rodney Bowman and Mrs. William Getzendanner of Waxahatchie, Texas, and numerous cousins of several generations. He attended Houston public schools, New Mexico Military Academy and the University of Texas where he was a member of Kappa Alpha fraternity. He served his country in World War Two and was present at the Battle of the Bulge and at the crossing of the Rhine. When he returned home he founded the Holland Mortgage and Investment Co. together with his father and later became president of Holland Mortgage and of Fidelity Southern Fire Insurance Co., a position he held until his retirement after a quadruple by-pass in 1990. He was a member of the Houston Country Club, River Oaks Country Club and formerly of the Forest Club, the Houston Club, the Galveston Boat Club, Skylien Golf Club in Arizona, as well as many dance clubs, among them the Junior Assembly, the Houston Hounders, the Century and the Folderal, and several luncheon clubs, formal and informal, whose falling off from robust numbers to a very few he regretted. He so participated in life at 85, that he danced all evening at the May party of the Terpsichore Club and played golf the week before his death, as well as enjoying a large family birthday party in his honor May 24. After retirement he did a great deal of hands-on volunteer work, particularly with the Christian Community Service Meals-on-Wheels, Salvation Army and the CityWide Club of Clubs Childrens Service at Thanksgiving and Christmas, drawing in his friends to do the same. He participated in civic life, working friend's campaign offices, working at the polls on election day, and several times being a delegate, with his wife, to city caucuses for both Democrats and Republicans. He recorded the last census, served on juries, and attended and spoke up at community meetings in his new neighborhood of West University. He had wide-ranging intellectual curiosity and during his lifetime subscribed to every scientific magazine and carried his various telescopes and barometers to the bay, the hill country and Colorado. He was a keen card player, especially bridge, and chess played a big part in his life. Taught by his father, he taught and played with his children and delighted in his chess-playing grandchildren, sought out chess-playing acquaintances and took a traveling board to business trips. He enjoyed almost every sort of sporting endeavor with his friends. He flew small planes across the country with flier friends, had a financial interest in small hangers in Texas and went many times to the air shows in Reno, Nevada and Rhinebeck, New York. He drove small sports cars, collecting them for years and also collected antique automobiles as well as fire engines. He went to Harrah's in Nevada many times and a Model A with rumble seat and a fire engine sat in his driveway. He carried tennis racqets when traveling in his youth and golf clubs at all times. With friends and family he spent happy hours sailing and skiing, but golf was his passion. Going with friends to his house in the Texas Hill Country, barbecuing on the river and trying three different golf courses in the weekend was his greatest pleasure. He outlived three golf foursomes, to his great grief-they were all close friends-and began again with a younger group. He enjoyed playing with a golfer daughter, had just bought new clubs and looked forward to bringing one of his grandsons to the game this summer. He was a completely up-pretending man, and along with the habit of voracious reading on every subject, inherited from his father, a quirky nature, an incisive mind and a quick wit. But he had a kind heart, undertook many un-remarked small personal charities in his long life, and intervened to help those in need of it (sometimes physically). Snapshots of Jimmy Holland show him with his dogs - he had many through the years and they were important to him - and above all with friends. His friends were the spice of life to him, whether they were engaged in sports, playing cards, or just being together in congenial groups talking on subjects serious or casual. He had a vast acquaintance, not only in Houston but across the United States and each one was a valued friend. He felt a real sorrow at the loss of so many at his age-and made new ones. He was a man loved by his friends and very greatly loved by his family, his children, grandchildren and especially by his wife. Funeral services will be held at two o'clock June 24 at the Chapel of St. John the Divine Episcopal Church, the Reverend Laurens A. Hall, presiding, with interment immediately following in the Garden of Remembrance at St. Johns. James Holland's friends are invited to meet with the family at three o'clock in the Thomas room at River Oaks Country Club. No flowers please. Gifts might be made to Special Pals, Citizens For Animal Protection, the Christian Community Service Center or the Open Door Mission.