James Earl Holden

Jim was born in Dallas, Texas on May 20,1949 to Demetrice and Earl Harvey Holden. He graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in Dallas and the University of Texas at Austin. He came to Austin for school and never left until very recently relocating to Horseshoe Bay.

He co-founded Live Oak Development in 1983, a privately held commercial real estate company with a reputation for integrity and creativity that developed some of the earliest mixed-use real estate projects in Central Texas. Their projects included Gabriel's Court, the Carillon, the offices at Mira Vista and The Overlook office building. Jim’s career in real estate spanned over 40 years.

Jim was passionately involved with Boy Scouts throughout his life and believed it was his calling to give back. He served as Scoutmaster to Troop 5 and was very proud when his son earned his Eagle Scout rank in 1997. He went on to serve as an active board member and led the development and construction of the Frank Fickett Center which proudly serves as the headquarters for the Capital Area Council today. For these efforts, he received the Silver Beaver award in 2007.

Jim was happiest outdoors and loved sharing his hobbies with his family. He spent many summers and winters fly fishing and snow skiing in Colorado with fall reserved for hunting season in South Texas. Following his retirement, he re-kindled his lifelong love of being on the water and greatly enjoyed spending his summers in the San Juan Islands in the Pacific Northwest on his boat, the Aventura.

Jim had a lifelong love of music. He was a regular listener of ”Twine Time” on KUTX, a supporter of Austin City Limits and was thrilled to celebrate his 75th birthday by traveling to Las Vegas with his family to see Garth Brooks in concert this past spring.

He is survived by his son, Joshua Earl (Emily George) Holden of Houston, daughter, Chelsea Meredith Holden of Austin, daughter, Kathryn Meredith Holden of Fredericksburg and his beloved baby grandson, William Walker Holden of Houston, who he thought was the cutest baby in the world! He is also survived by his companion, Mary Eloise Batts of Horseshoe Bay and his former wife and the mother of his children, Meredith Smith Holden of Austin.

He was preceded in death by his parents and his sister, Lynda Holden Hendricks.

We will miss Jim so very much, but we know there were big fish, bigger deer, Holden family labrador retrievers and one special basset hound that greeted him in Heaven.

A memorial service will be held at The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, 3201 Windsor Road in Austin, Texas on Friday, September 6 at 10:30 a.m.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to a favorite charity or Boy Scouts of America, Capitol Area Council or Mobile Loaves & Fishes.

The family wishes to express heartfelt gratitude to his amazing teams at MD Anderson, Dr. Ravin Ratan, Precious Byrd, Texas Oncology, Dr. Jeff Yorio, Stacey Gilmore and Mark Hernandez over the last three years.