Daniel William Holden was born May 1st, 1934, in Anaheim, CA, the second son of George and Madge Holden. Dan and his brother Steve grew up as Orange County grew. Their father was the first District Attorney and County Counsel of Orange County, and City Attorney of Anaheim. The boys played in orange groves, raised bantam roosters and ducks, and thrived.
Dan was student body president of Fremont Jr. High, and at Anaheim Union High School he was captain of the tennis team. Summers he had various jobs such as irrigating orange groves and working for the Orange County Road Department. He started hiking as a teenager with his brother and friends. One year they hiked the trails of Yosemite, and they had the park to themselves. This was an enduring memory for Dan.
He attended UC Berkeley from 1951-1955, majoring in Forestry. He roomed with his life-long friend, Lee Webb. They climbed Mt Whitney and had many other hiking adventures. He learned the names of all the different trees and later tried to teach his children and grandchildren without much success. In the summer one of his jobs was managing the Latour State Forest near Redding.
Dan loved the forest, but not fighting fires, so he decided to attend law school. He earned his JD from Loyola Law School in 1958, earning the William Tell Aggeler Award for having the highest grade point average in his class, as well as the J. Rex Dibble award for highest cumulative GPA.
He worked for Kindel & Anderson until 1960, then opened his own law firm in Fullerton, then Anaheim, representing various companies and individuals. In 1976 he was appointed the first counsel for the Diocese of Orange, and represented them for 30 years. When he moved to Wrightwood he worked in San Bernardino and assisted with matters for the Diocese of San Bernardino.
Dan married the love of his life, Dee Dee, in 1958. He and Dee Dee had five daughters: Teresa, Anne, Marisa, Margie and Joy. Joy only lived for seven months, but was a blessing to the family, and a comfort to him in his final years. Later on, his happiness increased when he welcomed into the family his sons-in-law Kevin, Ray and Mark.
Dan was a kind, hardworking, generous person. He loved his family, he loved his work, he loved the mountains. The family enjoyed trips to Balboa Island, vacations in Mammoth Lakes, tennis, skiing, hiking and their cabin in Wrightwood. Dan was always involved with his children and each child felt his love and support.
Throughout his lifetime Dan valued participation in his parish. He was involved with many ministries including religious education, finance committee, and the lector ministry. He was on the board of Cornelia Connelly High School, St. Catherine’s Academy, and various Catholic charitable organizations.
In his later years he loved spending time with his grandchildren Holden, Amanda, Charlie, Reed, Sam, India, Ted, Franny, Max and Abbey, and his great grandchildren Marina and Gianna. All of them felt loved and appreciated by him. He was in his element whenever his grandkids were involved. They remember hiking with him, big family dinners, and visits from him while they were in college. He welcomed with open arms the newest members of the family: Megan, married to Reed, and Kelly, Holden’s fiancé.
Dan was loyal, loving, honest, compassionate, and the best husband, dad and grandad ever. We celebrate his life.
In lieu of flowers, you may make donations to:
St. Vincent de Paul OLS/SJS
c/o. St. Junipero Serra
8820 Sheep Creek Rd.
Phelan, CA 92371
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18