Bob Holloway dead at 76
PHOTOS: 1. Bob Holloway took this photo while flying over the Continental Divide in Montana in his powered parachute. Courtesy photo.<br>2. Bob Holloway took this photo while flying over the Yellowstone River in Montana in his powered parachute. Courtesy photo.<br>3. Bob Holloway took this photo while flying over eastern Montana in his powered parachute. Courtesy photo.<br>4. Bob Holloway took this picture of himself while flying over South Dakota in his powered parachute. Courtesy photo.
BBCC contributor dies in plane crash
EPHRATA - The Columbia Basin lost active community member and adventure-seeker Bob Holloway Saturday.
Grant County Sheriff's deputies said Holloway's experimental plane crashed into a cornfield near the Moses Lake Municipal Airport.
Wife Agnes said Holloway was born in August 1931 and the two were married for about 53 years.
"He was passionate about flying and aviation, and so I'm accepting because he was doing what he wanted to do, and for a pilot that might not be so bad," Agnes said.
Among his many endeavors, Holloway was on the Big Bend Community College Board of Trustees since 2002, a founder of AgFARMation and a former director of the Grant County Farm Bureau. He also served in the U.S. Air Force.
Holloway achieved a Guinness World Record for longest journey on a powered paraglider. The 2,580-mile trip from Astoria, Ore., to Washington, Mo., was made June 18 to July 12, 2004.
"He was always going somewhere, and I think he loved to keep things stirred up," Agnes said. "He'd probably stir an anthill just to see the activity."
Holloway wrote a book titled "Desert of Dreams," about settlers who came to the Columbia Basin in the 1950s. He was in the process of writing a second book related to the same subject, Agnes said.
In 1997, Holloway joined the Big Bend Community College Foundation board, said Public Information Officer Catherine Holestine. He was appointed to the college's Board of Trustees in 2002.
"I cannot say enough about the benefit that Bob provided to the college," Holestine said. "He supported students individually, as well as the institution as a whole."
Trustees related Holloway's personality and service to the community.
"I so much enjoyed being around Bob," said Trustee Katherine Kenison.
She described Holloway as modest and unassuming. Rather than focusing on himself, Holloway focused on finding out about others, Kenison said.
Agnes described him in a light different from modest.
"He does enjoy his publicity and press," she said.
Kenison said Holloway told some wonderful stories about his personal experiences.
"He had a very adventurous spirit under that quiet demeanor," she said.
Perhaps indicative of his adventurous spirit, Holloway in 2004 retraced the return journey of Lewis and Clark, from Oregon to Montana, using a powered parachute.
"He was an exceptional person in a lot of ways," said Trustee Felix Ramon. "(He was) dedicated to doing the best he could for the college and the students, and he was very dedicated to helping the foundation with its scholarships to help the students."
In addition to scholarship support his family provided, Holloway and the other board of trustees members donated their per diem checks to a trustee scholarship fund. In addition, Holloway donated his mileage reimbursement to the fund, Ramon said.
"He's done a lot for the community, and he's done a lot for agriculture in the (Columbia) Basin," Ramon said.
Ramon said Holloway was involved in many activities, and tried to make the community a better place and be of service to others.
"We will all miss his efforts in friendship and support of our students," stated Big Bend President Bill Bonaudi. "I'll always remember him as constantly curious, intellectually brilliant and a friend to everyone who met him."
Approximately two years ago, Holloway graduated from Big Bend Community College with his Associate of Arts degree, said Agnes.
She noted Holloway was likely the second oldest person to graduate that year.
Royal City resident Alice Parker knew Holloway from his agriculture endeavors and worked with him as part of the group who formed AgFARMation.
"He and I were both one of the early beginners of trying to get that thing up and rolling," Parker said.
She described Holloway as a talented, energetic person who did what he could to support agriculture in the Columbia Basin.
"He's just been a great advocate for the Columbia Basin Project and what all's been happening here," she said.
When Agnes and Holloway met, Holloway was in the Air Force. They lived for a year at McChord Air Force Base in Western Washington, Agnes recalled.
"He kind of followed his dad into farming," she said.
Agnes and Holloway moved to 80 acres of land in Quincy, and later, when Holloway began potato storage buildings, the couple moved to Ephrata.