Born into the Holden family, Don spent many of his early years with a multigenerational family setting surrounded by parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. As with many families of that time, you were a part of the whole…and that was Don’s young world. Settings like one-room school houses and walks on dirt roads were common for him and shaped his entire life.
Don served in the National Guard and later became a recording engineer at later age in Chicago, IL for RCA Records where he met his first wife Patricia Lindgren. They had a son Mark and eventually moved to Los Angeles in the late 80’s to follow his recording career. From there, he later returned to Brunswick County to spend the rest of his life surrounded by family and friends. Occasionally old friends are found again and that is when he encountered Wilma Gray, his second bride, who was a childhood close friend. This old, and new, bond led to their marriage and addition of Wilma’s daughters Laura and Becky to the family.
His wonderfully simple perspective of the world allowed him to see each new face as a friend with the opening statement of “Howdy Hoss, or Ma’am.” If anyone needed a flashlight, pen, compass or note pad, he was there for them…and sometimes with too many items as many of you know. Sometimes a box would show up on your doorstep with so many useful items that you had to share with your own friends to get rid of it all. He wanted to share what he had so much that he always had a supply of goodies with him at any given time. It seemed as though his philosophy was to connect with everyone however you can and leave ‘em happy.
Don was survived by his daughter Laura and son Mark and his family Sharon, Zach and Miles, granddaughter Megan as well has his half-sisters and brother Joy, Lorraine, Cherry and Byron. A private family service will be held at a future date.
We will miss you sir!
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Wilmington Funeral & Cremation, 1535 S. 41st Street, Wilmington NC 28401
910.791.9099
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