A. Donald Holloway

Archie Donald “Don” Holloway went to be with his Lord and Savior on November 21, 2025, at the age of 95, “in a good old age and full of years” (Gen. 25:8). Don was born in Bennington, Vermont, on March 2, 1930, to Lucille and Archie James Holloway, and was a long-time resident of Greenville, SC, having lived there since 1983.

Don grew up in Happy, Texas, and then East Ryegate, Vermont. He survived the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl in Texas, which caused his parents to move to Vermont. He spent many happy days hunting and fishing when he wasn’t working with his Grandpa Bailey, who was a blacksmith. Don loved to play baseball and had a wicked lefty knuckleball. He was scouted by the Red Sox at 18, but his mother convinced him there was no money in baseball so he did not pursue that career.

Don enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1951 to serve in the Korean War. A week before he was to leave for parachuting school, he found out the missions had been cancelled because there were no survivors. In 1955 Major Shaeffer shared the gospel with Don, and he prayed to receive Christ. Now that he was a Christian, his superior encouraged him to meet other Christians, so he attended a young adult weekend at Forest Home Christian Camp, where he met Marilyn. After a whirlwind courtship and finishing his enlistment in the Air Force, he married his beloved wife, Marilyn Ann Taylor, at Hollywood Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles on May 21,1955. They celebrated 70 years of marriage this past May, surrounded by their many children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

Don’s first phase of professional life was as an electrical engineer–part of the Atlas project, building the first Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM). His training in telemetry in the Air Force and then in civilian/government jobs related to the ICBM allowed him to work with test pilots Chuck Yeager, John Glenn, and Neal Armstrong. He even met Wernher von Braun in a lab at Cape Canaveral.

Don felt called into Christian ministry midway through life and left the engineering world. Over the next thirty years, he was the principal of several Christian schools (including one school that he started), a pastor for a few years, and eventually Dean of Students at Pensacola Christian College. He decided to pursue another college degree and moved his family to Greenville, SC, to attend school there. While working full time in ministry, he built houses on the side and fixed up old cars. He built three homes for his family–two in Maine and one in SC. He also built several homes for other people. He was always building something, fixing something, or figuring out the best way to fix something–the original MacGyver. The final house he built in Pebble Creek in 1996 was a Tudor-style home, Marilyn’s favorite.

Upon retirement Don began a different kind of ministry. He and Marilyn took care of Kimberly's two children from birth and then were in car line three days a week. He started teaching Sunday school at First Baptist of Taylors. He led a men’s Bible study on Friday mornings. He and Marilyn worked at Childhood Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) in after-school programs. They also checked people in at the gym every Monday morning for many years at First Baptist.

Don also continued building and fixing things during retirement. He restored a WWII Jeep, helped his children renovate their homes, and visited his son’s Christian camp several times in West Virginia and helped build cabins and make repairs. He still cut his grass going uphill with a push mower into his 90’s.

Eventually Don and Marilyn transitioned to assisted living at the Gardens at Eastside when Dad was 93. He walked three times a day, doing two laps each time with his rollator. He also did weight training every day and rode his stationary bike until about a month ago when he was hospitalized for congestive heart failure. He and Marilyn participated in many events and outings at the Gardens and came to know many friends there. Don especially loved the dog Baxter that came and visited him every week. Baxter would sit at the door waiting for Don to get back to their apartment.

God blessed Don with a long full life and fruitful ministry–still teaching Bible study at age 94, still reading his Bible every day, often several times a day. His main ministry, however, in his last years was praying for his family several times a day and others whom he came to know and making sure that they knew Jesus. His cheerful outlook on life–being thankful for what the Lord had given him–gave him resilience and strength to continue to fight for life to the very end. On his last day here on earth, he was quoting Psalm 23. He still knew family members who stopped by and visited. At the very end he tried to sit up and “get ready for church.” When he lay back to rest, the Lord took him to heaven.

He served his family well. He loved his wife and his children well. He was an amazing example of strong character, especially honesty and integrity, to all who knew him. Don is survived by his wife, Marilyn, and his five children–Cynthia Dowling, David Holloway, Jennifer Guthrie, Kimberly Holloway-McDow, and Stephen Holloway. He also has 13 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren with another due in February.

A private family service will be held at 2 pm on Saturday, November 29, at Woodlawn Memorial.