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District Judge Gary A.
Holum • 1937 - 2007
 District
Judge Gary A. Holum (Ret.), who lived his entire life in North
Dakota, virtually all of it in Minot, died Sunday, Sept. 9, 2007,
in a Minot hospital. His life has been described as one of service
to his community and its residents through the many organizations
in which he held membership and office. He was 70 years old.
He was born in Minot on March 19, 1937, a son of Bottolf and
Mabel (Olson) Holum. He grew up in a one-bedroom, downtown apartment
on Minot's Main Street where, family life was crowded. He worked
as a delivery boy for The Minot Daily News, and his home address
earned him the Main Street route. Older residents recall the
tall skinny kid with a big, happy grin on his face, running up
and down Main Street.
He attended Minot schools, held office as head of his class and
played basketball at Minot High School. He was on the team that
won the state championship in 1955, the year he graduated. He
recently was inducted into the MHS Athletic Hall of Fame.
Joan Riebe came into his life early. They started dating in the
ninth grade, and on Aug. 16, 1958, they were married in Minot.
Before that, he started college, spending the 1955-56 school
year at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. Then he returned
to North Dakota and attended the University of North Dakota at
Grand Forks, earning a BS/BA degree there in marketing in 1960.
He came back to Minot where he worked in the city assessor's
office. He was assistant city assessor from 1960 to 1963 and
city assessor for the next five years.
He was a member of the North Dakota National Guard from 1960
to 1967, and was on active duty in 1961-62.
One day in 1968, a friend walked into his office and said, let's
go to law school. He thought about that for awhile. By then he
and Joan had two children, and he had passed his thirtieth birthday.
He decided to go for it, took and passed the UND law school admission
test, and with his family, moved into one of the so-called tin
huts that were part of the university's campus housing. His friend
decided against law school, and Holum found going back to the
study grind wasn't easy. He was awarded in 1971, the juris doctor
degree. After that, they returned to Minot where he became a
partner in the law firm of Bosard, McCutcheon, Karien, Schmidt,
Holum and Rau, a practice that included a three-year stretch,
from 1973 to 1976, as Minot city attorney.
He left the law firm in 1981 to accept an appointment as Ward
County Judge. He left that post to run for District Judge, a
state court, in 1992. He won a second six-year term in 1998 and
served until his retirement in 2004.
When he returned to Minot in 1971, he plunged into a wide range
of activities in a number of organizations, including the Ward
County, North Dakota and American Bar associations, retaining
membership in those groups throughout his legal career. He also
was a member of the North Dakota Judicial Conference, the N.D.
County Judges Association, Judicial Conduct Commission and the
Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission. He was a member of
the executive committee of the National Conference of Special
Court Judges from 1982 until 1988.
At Minot State University, he was an adjunct instructor in the
criminal justice division in 1989 and 1990, and served terms
on the MSU Board of Regents and the Development Foundation Board.
Long active at First Lutheran Church of Minot, he served on the
church council, the church call and nominating committees and
chaired the church centennial celebration.
When his children were in school, he was a member and past president
of the Perkett and Jim Hill Parent Teacher associations. He also
was a member of the Edison PTA. He moved on to involvement with
the Minot Music, Hockey and Swim club boosters, served a term
on and was president of the Minot School Board.
He was a member of various Minot Area Chamber of Commerce committees,
including its board of directors. He also served on the boards
of Second Story, a social club for the mentally and physically
challenged, and the Minot YMCA. He joined the Y's Men's Club
in 1976, was on its executive committee and served as president
in 1983-1984. He was a member of the Minot Recreation Commission.
A longtime member of the Minot Kiwanis Club, he served on its
board, was president in 1989-90 and a lieutenant governor of
the Minnesota-Dakotas District of the club in 1989.
He served on the board of Trinity Medical Center from 1986 to
1990. He was a member of the Minot Elks and Moose lodges and
of the Inquisitors Club of Minot.
His pride in his Norwegian heritage was reflected in the high
profile he maintained through his work with Norsk Hostfest, as
a member of its board and longtime manager of the event's general
store. He also was a member of Thor Lodge of the Sons of Norway
and was on the board and a former president of the Scandinavian
Heritage Association. He had traveled through all of Scandinavia.
His journeys there included six trips to Norway alone. He took
his family to visit his father's farmstead in Flam, Norway, and
he and his wife represented Minot's Norsk Hostfest in the country,
which included visits to Skein, Minot's sister city in Norway.
There were other trips through western and Eastern Europe, England,
Japan, Mexico and Canada. He treasured his family and the time
he spent with them. He liked to hunt, fish, and to garden. He
liked people and liked working with them. As a judge, he had
to pass sentence on convicted criminals, many of them trapped
in alcoholism or other drugs. Someone once told him, you must
be under a lot of stress. No, he said, I give stress. Many of
those he put in jail who were later released returned to tell
him, you saved my life.
"You couldn't have had anybody better," his wife said.
"That's a pretty big blessing. He was so proud of his children,
and they were proud of their dad."
Survivors: wife, Joan; sons, Thomas Glenn Holum, Bloomington,
Minn., and John Gary Holum and his wife Alicia, Gig Harbor, Wash.;
daughter, Jane Ann Furer and and her husband Ferdinand, San Jose,
Calif.; two grandchildren, Ashley and Justin Holum, Gig Harbor.
An infant son Robert, his parents, a brother Glenn Holum, and
a sister, Carol Holum, preceded him in death.
Memorial service will be on Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2007,
at 11 a.m. in First Lutheran Church, Minot.
Burial: Interment of ashes will be a private ceremony
in Gethsemane Cemetery in Burt Township, Ward County, south of
Minot.
Visitation: Friends may sign a register at Thompson-Larson
Funeral Home, Minot, today from noon to 7 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, the family prefers memorials to the First
Lutheran Church Foundation, Norsk Hostfest or Scandinavian Heritage
Association, all of Minot.
Officiate: Pastor Ken Nelson
Eulogist: Mike Timm
Music
Processional hymn "Blessed Assurance" WOV 699
Congregation hymn "Jesus Loves Me"
Congregational hymn "The Lords Prayer"
(Congregation please join hands during The Lords Prayer)
Recessional hymn "Lift High The Cross" LBW 377
First Lutheran Church Ensemble
Mark Boren, trumpet
Gary Stenehjem, organist
Honorary Bearers: All those people Gary touched throughout
life and all those that touched him in friendship and kindness.
Flag Presentation by the Minot Air Force Base Honor Guard
To sign the online guest register
for Gary
To
view the online guest register for Gary
To
view the outside of Gary's folder
To view
the inside of Gary's folder
To view
the insert to Gary's folder
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