[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 140 (Tuesday, October 7, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1992-E1993]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        DEATH OF DONALD HOLLAND

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                            HON. JOE WILSON

                           of south carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, October 7, 2003

  Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, South Carolina has lost 
one if its best public servants recently when State Senator Donald 
Holland of Camden, South Carolina, died at the age of 75. He was my 
colleague during my seventeen years of service in the South Carolina 
State Senate. He will always be remembered as a gentleman who conducted 
his chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee with civility. He was 
respectful of the minority and promoted open debate. His legacy will be 
the fair election laws appreciated by South Carolinians due to his 
chairmanship of the Election Laws Study Committee, where he was always 
respectful and understanding of my minority role. The Wilson family 
extends its deepest sympathy to the Holland family.
  The following is his obituary printed in the State newspaper.

                          Sen. Donald Holland

       Camden.--The Honorable Donald Harry Holland, husband of 
     Betty Bell Holland and father of Elizabeth Alberta (Lisa) 
     Holland, died October 5, 2003, at his home. Funeral services 
     will be held at Lyttleton Street United Methodist Church at 1 
     p.m. Wednesday, October 8, with the Reverend T. Lee Bryant 
     Jr. and Chaplain George G. Meetze officiating, followed by 
     committal in Beulah United Methodist Church Cemetery.
       Holland, son of the late Eugene and Alberta Branham 
     Holland, was born on a farm in the rural Kershaw County 
     community of Cassatt on August 19, 1928. A graduate of Midway 
     High School (1945), Holland entered the United States Army 
     and was posted to the Asiatic-Pacific Theatre. At the age of 
     18, Holland served with U.S. Forces occupying Japan at the 
     conclusion of World War II. As part of his duties with the 
     Judge Advocates Office, Holland developed a proficiency for 
     speaking Japanese and served as a translator.
       Upon his honorable discharge from the military in 1948, 
     Holland reentered the University of South Carolina and, under 
     a combined program of undergraduate and law school studies 
     then available, earned a law degree in 1951.
       While concluding his studies at the University, Holland 
     sought election to the South Carolina House of 
     Representatives for Kershaw County. His election in 1950, at 
     age 21, began over one-half century of continuous public 
     service under 11 governors. Holland's six terms in the House 
     of Representatives were followed by five years of service on 
     the State Highway Commission and 35 years of service in the 
     South Carolina Senate.
       At the time of his death, Holland was the longest-serving 
     lawmaker in South Carolina. In South Carolina's post-colonial 
     history, only three persons have provided more years of 
     combined House and Senate service than Holland. In 1999, 
     Holland was honored by the National Conference of State 
     Legislators for having a tenure of service placing him among 
     the ten most senior legislators in the country.
       His long tenure was one of remarkable accomplishment. In 
     addition to chairing the Senate's standing committees on 
     Judiciary, General Laws, Corrections and Penology and Fish, 
     Game and Forestry, Holland was the catalyzing force and 
     chairman behind many of the body's most influential study 
     committees and special committees. In the 1970s and 1980s, 
     Holland led the state's efforts to reform and modernize its 
     election laws and laws governing criminal prosecution and 
     conviction. A champion of an effective and fair criminal 
     justice system, Holland served as chairman of nearly all 
     legislative conference committees, which produced significant 
     legislation within the past 20 years in the areas of support 
     of victims of violent crime, substantive criminal reform and 
     drug interdiction.
       As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee from 1995 
     until 2001, Holland devoted much of his energy and attention 
     to children's issues and domestic violence. In recognition of 
     his efforts, the South Carolina Victim Assistance Network 
     named Holland ``The Outstanding Legislator of the Year for 
     1999-2000.''
       In 1988, Holland, serving as chairman of the General 
     Assembly's Screening Committee for Candidates for the Public 
     Service Commission, began a 15-year effort to reform the 
     qualifications of public service commissioners. Within the 
     most recent legislative session and working in the bipartisan 
     manner with which he was most comfortable, Holland's crusade 
     for change in the Public Service Commission brought to the 
     forefront legislation accomplishing significant reform. 
     Holland also provided stable leadership to the Senate as 
     chairman of its Redistricting Committee during the late 1980s 
     and 1990s.
       Of his accomplishments, Holland was most proud of his 
     ability to serve his neighbors. His able service to the far-
     flung reaches of his geographically-large Senate district 
     resulted in progress coming to areas where it was not a 
     common visitor. Often recollecting the dire needs of South 
     Carolinians during his boyhood, Holland stubbornly held to 
     making sure that rural South Carolinians were not forgotten. 
     His well-known devotion to these interests resulted in his 
     having a statewide constituency. Holland was a member of 
     Lyttleton Street United Methodist Church, the VFW, American 
     Legion and Woodmen of the World. He was a 33rd degree Mason 
     and a Shriner. Consistent with his abiding love of history, 
     Holland was a member of the Kershaw County Historical Society 
     and the South Carolinian Society, the repository for his 
     personal and political papers.
       Holland was predeceased by his stepmother, Ruby Gordon 
     Holland. Besides his widow and daughter, he is survived by 
     brothers of Camden, Dr. Alton Holland and Carl Holland; four 
     sisters, Margaret Holland Ford of Camden, Maxine Holland 
     Humphrey of Camden, Zulene Holland Dougherty of Camden, 
     Sandra Holland Hatcher of Florence; a number of nieces and 
     nephews; his beloved dog, Maggie, and cat, Bully.

[[Page E1993]]

       The family suggests those wishing to make memorials may do 
     so to Cassatt Baptist Church Building Fund, P.O. Box 110, 
     Camden, SC 29032; the Beulah United Methodist Church Cemetery 
     Fund, 820 Beulah Church Road, Camden, SC 29020; the South 
     Carolina Troopers Association, 4961 Broad River Road, 
     Columbia, SC 29212; or to the charity of one's choice.

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