Eileen was born March 21, 1934 in Willmar, Minnesota, the daughter of Virgil and Margaret Olson. They had six children, three boys and three girls.
Eileen graduated from Willmar High School. She spent her first year of college at St. Catherine in St. Paul before transferring to Marquette University in Milwaukee, where she graduated. She taught school for a year in Milwaukee before becoming a flight attendant with TWA. On a transcontinental flight from San Francisco to New York, she met her future husband.
In 1959, Eileen married James Holleran in Willmar. Jim had just served for two years in the US Navy as the commander of a Marine medical company on Okinawa before they met. They settled on Long Island, New York, where Jim’s parents and two older brothers lived. There he did his surgical residency. He then set up a surgical practice in Setauket in Suffolk County, where they raised six children, four girls and two boys. Her active, athletic children kept her busy for many years. In her free time, she read books and wrote story poems for children. She loved classical music, and her favorite composer was Mozart. She kept a CD player nearby most of the time.
The Hollerans were regular parishioners of St. James Catholic Church in Setauket and active, longtime members of the Three Village Tennis Club and St. George’s Golf Club. Jim passed on his love of tennis to all his children, and Eileen got on board too. She even served a term as the tennis club’s president.
Following Jim’s retirement, Eileen and Jim moved to Prescott, Arizona in 1998. She loved Prescott’s many sunny days and spent time hiking and walking the city’s trails and buttes with friends. After Jim’s passing in 2009, Eileen resided in Prescott until 2014. She then spent time in Minnesota with her siblings and their families before settling in Winston-Salem, close to her oldest daughter and her family. She enjoyed visiting Tanglewood and Reynolda Gardens, where she continued to walk and spend time until recently.
Eileen is survived by her sister, Mary Andrews, and sister-in-law, Virginia Olson Reno; daughters Mary Hennessee (husband Scott), Sheila Johnson, Leslie Holleran (husband Kevin Henderson), daughter-in-law Stacy Holleran; nine grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, as well as many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her daughter, Kathleen, and sons, Robert and James, and granddaughter, Madison.
The family is very grateful to the many people involved in helping them to care for Eileen over the past year.
In lieu of flowers, donations to the Alzheimer’s Association, Winston-Salem Symphony, or the Nature Conservancy would be much appreciated.
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