[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
______
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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