William Jess "Jesse" Holloway
Feb 26, 1939 -
Jul 25, 2023
William Jess Holloway was born and grew up in Washington, Ind., in an area known to this day as "Boxtown," as many of the homes there were constructed of pieces of salvaged railroad boxcars. His mother insisted she had named him Jesse William, but that a clerk transposed the names, and it was easier to just live with it. To those who knew him, he was always as Jesse or Jess or JB. If anybody called asking for "William," we all knew it was probably somebody selling something.
At age 17, and with few prospects at home, Jesse made the decision to enlist in the United States Marine Corps. He served most of his time in the then-territory of Hawaii, and was there for its celebration of statehood. Although he spent only a small fraction of his life in the Corps, he embodied "Semper Fi" and embraced being a Marine to his final breath. It was surely one of the most formative experiences of his life, and was apparent in his personal discipline, his carriage and his forthright, no-nonsense approach to any situation.
Upon receiving his honorable discharge, Jesse returned home and enrolled at Indiana State University, and then the University of Illinois, earning a B.S. in Special Education and an M.A. in audiology and speech pathology, respectively. Upon graduation, Jesse honed his skills as an audiologist in Michigan for a few years before hearing about the irresistible combination of opportunity and adventure offered by the last frontier; in 1971, Jesse came to Alaska and soon found himself working for the state agency that oversaw rural schools.
As luck would have it, Shirley just happened to also work for Alaska State Operated Schools, as a speech pathologist. Beginning as colleagues, they became friends. As friends they found love and, in 1973, were married in Anchorage. Jesse was then and forevermore not only a doting and dedicated husband to Shirley, but also a loving father to her three children. Throughout his life, he was known to say, "The two best decisions I ever made were joining the Marines and marrying Shirley."
The year 1975 was an eventful one for the young Holloway family. One might be forgiven for inferring that the call to adventure was still unsatisfied, for in that year the family moved to Utqiagvik, then Barrow, "just for a couple years." Upon the sudden passing of his sister Norva, Jesse opened his arms and his home to her three teenage children, and suddenly, "The Holloways" numbered eight.
During his tenure with the North Slope Borough School District, Jesse held many roles, but the one in which he took the most pride was directing and reforming the vocational education programs and offerings. Always a prolific hands-on craftsman, Jesse appreciated the value of skills in the trades, and his upbringing had shown him that there were alternative routes to success that didn't necessarily include a college degree. It gave him real joy to see students build both skills and useful, needed products and services for their community, and all the while staying in school and working toward graduation. Jesse retired from NSBSD in 1990, "just a couple years" after arriving in 1975.
Jesse stayed busy, though; he was fond of saying of retirement, "I don't know where I used to find the time to work!" Between pursuing his love of travel, his passion for hunting, fishing, camping, floating Alaska's rivers, as well as his innumerable projects improving the Holloway home and restoring grand old cars, Jesse did manage to find the time to provide moral, logistical and emotional support to Shirley as she continued to blaze a path in educational leadership for three more decades ... and counting. It was also during this time that Jesse opened his arms again, welcoming the Pudlo family into the Holloway clan.
In the early morning hours of Tuesday, July 25, 2023, at his home in Anchorage, Jesse Holloway sat in his favorite chair, fell gently to sleep, and passed peacefully from this life. Jesse had turned 84 in February, and in April celebrated the 50th anniversary of his wedding to his beloved Shirley with family and friends. He is preceded in death by his mother, Dorothy; sister, Norva; children, Kathleen and Frank; and grandson, Conner; and survived by his children, Jesse, Sarah, Kenneth, Jacki, and Kameron; grandchildren, Giovanni, Jessica, Marissa, Christa, Joshua, Sebastian, Isabel and Mariella; great-grandchildren, Savannah and Maya. We miss him terribly, remember him warmly, and draw strength from one another as we are united by the loss of him.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Tunnel to Towers, t2t.org. Notice of celebration of life will be posted to Shirley's Facebook page.
