Obituary of James Herbert Holland, Jr.

James H Holland Jr (Jim) of Chapel Hill, NC died Sunday November 25, 2018 at UNC Hospital after a short illness at the age of 68 years old.

Jim is survived by his wife, Frances (Fran) Keller Holland and his son, Jonathan K. Holland; by his Mother, Catherine D. Holland; his sister Cathy H Sargent and husband Pete of Chapel Hill, 2 nephews, Christopher (Carmen) and  Rob Sargent; his sister Sarah H McGovern and husband Tom of Raleigh, 4 nieces : Michelle, Shannon, Courtney, & Lindsay; sister in law Barbara K Beverley and niece Katie.  He was blessed to have many cousins on both sides of his family. He was preceded in death by his beloved father, Herb Holland.

Jim was born on Sept 4, 1950 and loved all of his childhood in Chapel Hill and Carrboro. He graduated from Chapel Hill High School in 1968.  As a child Jim attended University Baptist Church. He was involved in Boy Scouts, building models, &projects for his Dad including building a rock wall that quite a few young folks in CH and Carrboro contributed to.  He loved sharing the outdoors with his little sisters. In High School he began working with his Father learning many things about maintenance in the Family Real Estate business.

One of his loves was music and while in high school he became the drummer of the Family of Four, which became the One Eyed Jacks, playing at many dances (including his younger sisters 8thgrade dance), private parties and fraternity gatherings on the UNC campus. 

He attended UNC but then he and his UNC roommate followed their dreams and moved to the wilds of British Columbia for a year living in a small cabin in the Kispiox Valley.  He returned in time for his sister high school graduation and began back at UNC, for another 2 years, then moving to his father’s home place in Fuquay Varina and attending Wake Community College in Civil Engineering Technology with the goal of attaining his Surveying License. After working for the Department of Transportation and for Barnes Surveying in Apex, he foundedHolland Land Surveying in the early 80s in Chapel Hill which has remained open in business until his untimely death.

During this time he bought his first four wheel drive, an old Toyota land cruiser, joined the Triangle 4 wheel drive  club and took to the woods most weekends.

In January 1975, he married Fran and they began their great adventure together: camping at Kerr Lake, whitewater rafting trips, traveling to the mountains as often as possible, traveling with another couple in an older wooden yacht down the intercoastal waterway to Hilton Head. The two of them had a lifelong love of cheering on the Tarheels, football tailgates with family & friends; and basketball, even traveling to New Orleans for the Basketball National Championship in 82. He always said there was nothing in the world like being at the UNC/Duke basketball game in Chapel Hill every year!

In 1978 he travelled to visit Owen Hoke, his former UNC roommate, in Juneau, Alaska camping across the US with his lab Gypsy in a camper van he had totally renovated.  Fran then joined him in Juneau and they camped for 2 and ½ weeks back across the US as he wanted to show her the Kispiox valley and introduce her to the people he had become close to while living there for the year.

In 1982 they moved back to Chapel Hill and Jim took a year off to build a home in Chatham County.  He then opened the doors of Holland Land Surveying.

In 1986 he and Fran began another great adventure, with their new son, Jonathan. He has said this was one of the most satisfying challenges of his life.

Never having played soccer, Jim studied the game in books and became a soccer coach to a team of 5/6 yr olds in the Chatham soccer league.  By the time he finished with soccer, he had become certified as a Referee and spent 4 years as the Referee Coordinator in the Chatham League, becoming a high school Referee before retiring from the sport, which had became a love he would always follow. Jim volunteered with the Boy Scouts eventually serving as Scoutmaster for several years sharing his knowledge & love of hiking, biking and camping. He was always helping whatever Fran & Jonathan involved him in with the acolytes at St. Bartholomew’s Church in Pittsboro. And the family could be found camping in the mountains, traveling to new places and the guys waiting in line for the first car of any roller coaster they could find.

One of his greatest pleasures became boating first at Kerr Lake with the Keller family and then at Gaston with the Holland family.  Jim pulled many beginning skiers & knee boarders. His challenge was to bounce riders off the tube. He loved to sit in the middle of the lake at night and watch the night sky. He later spent many nights on the dock at Gaston listening to the blues while watching the world float by. He loved all of his family: the Hollands, Dickens, Kellers & the Knights.

A memorial service was held on Friday, November 30, 2018, at 11:00am in the Chapel of Walker's Funeral Home, 120 W. Franklin Street, Chapel Hill.  

The family is grateful to the Nursing staff & Drs in both the step-down unit and the MICU at UNC Hospital. 

While in the Hospital, Jim asked the UNC Doctors about research on pulmonary fibrosis being done throughout the country.  One big research project is at UNC.  Jim did request that in lieu of flowers, persons donate to this research to help us learn more about this deadly disease.  He had hoped to be able to help with getting the word out about it to the community but was not able to do so.

The family is asking that any donations be made to the Medical Foundation in the name of Jim Holland and those donations will be directly attributed to this research that Jim was so excited about. The make a gift page link is http://go.unc.edu/PulmMem. 

Gifts can also be mailed to The Medical Foundation, PO Box 1050,  Chapel Hill NC 27514.

Jim loved people. Before his death, he asked Fran to relay to his friends and family that his life has been a great adventure and he felt blessed for all of the folks he met along the way. It was a good ride. 

He will be missed.

The Holland family is under the care of Walker's Funeral Home of Chapel Hill.