Ruth Irene Holland

RUTH IRENE HOLLAND, died peacefully on Monday, June 30, 2008, at the fine age of 89. Born in Westville, just outside Groveton in Trinity County, Texas, she enjoyed her early years with her parents and two younger sisters in this farming and Piney Woods logging community. In her teenage years the family moved to Groveton, where she graduated from high school and with her mother, she bought the Grove Cafe and then later the Grove Hotel. She met and married William ("Bill" to friends and "Dutch" to the family) Woodrow Holland. As the Great Depression dragged on they moved to Houston to pursue their dreams. She got her cosmetologist's license and kept it current her entire life, "just in case of another Depression", she said. She moved back to Groveton with her daughter, Patsy, after Dutch joined the Navy at the outbreak of WW II. She had a beauty shop and bus station in the family hotel until the end of the war, when Dutch returned. After the death of her father and then mother in 1947, the family moved back to Houston. Dutch went to work for the Texas Liquor Control Board, became a Supervisor in the Houston office and later was a successful lobbyist for the wholesale beer industry. Ruth continued her career as a business woman by profitably buying and selling homes in Houston while working in the Harris County Attorney's office until she retired after "thirty years and eight months" as she would so proudly say. Ruth's family was all-important to her. Known to her sisters as "Sister", to her nieces and nephews as "Aunt Sister" and to the rest of the family as simply "Mama", she was the family matriarch. She believed in the biblical principle that "charity begins at home" and insured that her children were well-cared for and well-educated. In addition to her parents, Ruth is preceded in death by her husband, her two sisters and her much-beloved daughter, Patsy Holland Powell. She is survived by her son, Woodrow A. Holland, his wife Dr. Frances M. Jones-Holland, her grandchildren, Andree Stagg and husband Philip, Rene Joubert and wife Beth, Amanda Holland Janicek and husband Matt, John Michael Jones-Holland, all of Houston and John William Holland of New York, N.Y.; five great- grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews. Funeral service will be held at the Mausoleum Mission Chapel at Forest Park Westheimer Cemetery, 12800 Westheimer Rd. in Houston at two o'clock p.m., Thursday, July 3rd. Those wishing to make a donation in Ruth's memory are encouraged to contribute to the Orthopedic Research Education Foundation, 6300 N. River Rd., Suite 700, Rosemont, Ill. 66018, or M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, P.O. Box 4486, Houston, Tx 77210-4486.