Marilyn Hall Holloway

Marilyn Joyce Hall Holloway, 97, a long-time resident of Williamsburg, died Thursday, March 31, after a long illness. She was widow of Charles M. Holloway, her husband of sixty-seven years. She leaves behind two children, Susan Holloway Scott of Paoli, PA, and Peter Holloway of Warrenton, NC; four grandchildren, Cameron Scott of Pittsburgh, PA, Alexa Holloway Duff of Louisville, KY, Lydia Scott Muollo of Swampscott, MA, and Connor Holloway of New York, NY; and two great-grandsons.

Mrs. Holloway was born in Colgate, Yuba County, CA, and was proud to have descended from the Nelson family, early homesteaders of Marin County, CA. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from the University of California, Berkeley. While attending college, she met and married fellow-student Charles Holloway of San Diego, CA. She taught high school in Pullman, WA while her husband completed his graduate studies there; after his graduation, they traveled to Europe, and lived in Nice, France.

Returning to America, the couple settled in Washington, DC, where Mrs. Holloway was employed by the Library of Congress. Relocating again to northern NJ, Mrs. Holloway devoted her time to raising their two children, and engaged in volunteer activities that ranged from serving as a Girl Scout troop leader, sharing her love of sports with children through afterschool physical education programs, and working in the local public libraries.

The Holloways moved to Williamsburg in 1980, and Mrs. Holloway continued to volunteer within the community. Her service included the James City County Library system and the Williamsburg Hospital Auxiliary. For twenty years, she tutored adults in the Literacy for Life program of the College of William & Mary. Throughout her life, Mrs. Holloway was an avid tennis player, and she and her husband were not only members of the Williamsburg Inn Tennis Club, but also belonged to the Friends of William & Mary Tennis, supporting both the women’s and men’s teams. She also enjoyed gardening, traveling with her husband, and playing bridge with friends.

But her greatest joy came from her children and grandchildren. She never missed a birthday, and there were always chocolate chip cookies in the kitchen and peppermints on the coffee table. Whether attending a school theater performance or an all-star hockey game, her cheers would be the loudest in the crowd. Having grown up in California, she was the only mom in NJ who went barefoot, and she knew every word of the Cal fight song – both the official version, and the slightly-off-color one sung by rival schools that her children found wildly exciting.

She could always be counted on to be the class mother on field trips, the driver to the library for homework research, and the one who saved old bread crusts to feed the ducks and the carp. She could fix zippers, and find things when no one else could. Whether staging a puppet show behind the couch, reading the same favorite picture book over and over every night, or playing ping-pong, rummy, air hockey, whiffle ball, or hide-and-seek, she had no rivals.

As Mom and Granma, she was the best.

A private memorial service will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to International House at the University of California, Berkeley, or to the American Cancer Society.