Jack Holder

Jack Holder was born in Meeker, Oklahoma, on August 7th, 1925, to Arthur and Blanche Holder. For the first 12 years of his life his name was Jackson Beauford. But he didn’t care much for that name. So when he finally got an official birth certificate, his parents decided he was old enough to name himself. And that’s when Jackson Beauford became Jack (no middle name) Holder.

Jack was the second oldest of four children, but he lived the longest of all of them. He had one older sister, Norma, and two younger brothers, Raymond (Rip) and James. The family originally had milk cows and raised their own vegetables and livestock. Their property backed up to a hill with lots of places for the boys to explore and hunt. Being the oldest son, he was expected to work very hard from the time he was a young boy, and this carried over to his work ethic as an adult. The family also lived in Oregon and California. Jack was the only one of his siblings to go to college. He graduated from the University of Southern California (USC) with a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering and was also on the USC wrestling team. He was very athletic in a variety of sports and was given the opportunity to pursue the Olympics in wrestling, which he declined. Jack also served in the U.S. Army Air Corp (before the Air Force existed) where he trained as a fighter pilot during 1944-1945 and was a Flight Officer. He met the love of his life, Eveyln Ann Widmeyer, on a blind date at a movie theater after the family had moved to southern California. They sat in the balcony of the theater where it was so hot that he was afraid he’d never hear from her again. But they became an item and were married and later had two children: Robert Bradley (Brad) Holder and Jenise (formerly Jean Denise Holder) Coronado.

Jack and Evie spent some time in Caracas, Venezuela, where he worked as an engineer. Their children, Brad and Jenise, were only 3 and 1 years old, respectively, at that time. Then they returned to the U.S. and settled down in southeast Idaho. Jack worked at the Department of Energy Site as a design engineer before starting his own business, Holder Machine Works in Rigby, which he ran for many years. During this time, Jack and Evie built a home in Rigby, and Jack became active in local business, civic, and church institutions; he served for many years as a city councilman on the Rigby City Council. They also purchased a lot and had a home built in Queen Valley, Arizona. It started out as a winter home, where they enjoyed wonderful weather, many friends, and lots of golf with beautiful views of the golf course. Eventually, it became their fulltime home where Evie passed away after a fall and broken hip.

Jack continued to live in his Queen Valley home with his very best sidekick, a chihuahua named PeeWee, until the night of February 14th, 2023. In the middle of the night, very strong winds caused a huge sahuaro in his front yard to fall onto the power lines going into the house. Jack was awakened by the sound of firefighters trying to break down the front door to save him. While Jack’s house was engulfed in flames, he managed to wrestle open the sliding door in his bedroom and escape into the snow and rain in his underwear and bare feet where the firefighters escorted him to the fire truck. His home, with PeeWee still in it, burned to the ground in a blazing inferno.

This tragedy prompted a quick decision to move him to Alamogordo, New Mexico, where he went into an assisted living facility. Always wanting to return to Arizona, he was moved to an assisted living center in Mesa where he was able to see some of his old friends. Jack passed away on September 27, 2023, and is interred with the love of his life, Evie, in the Veterans’ National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona in Phoenix, Arizona. He is survived by his two children, three grandchildren, six great grandchildren, and five great-great grandchildren. In addition to his wife, brothers, and sister, he is preceded in death by one grandchild, and one great grandchild.