Dr. Lee Allen Holden, Jr., was born on Veterans Day in 1925 on Dequeen Blvd., Port Arthur, Texas, and left this life for his place in heaven on Monday, September 3, Labor Day, in the Year of Our Lord 2018. At age 5, Lee contracted polio and was paralyzed but he survived and recovered to such a degree he was able to play football at Port Arthur’s Thomas Jefferson High School. He was known as the Boy with the Golden Toe as their field goal kicker because he never missed. He also attended San Marcus Military Academy for a year and played football there.
Lee was accepted into medical school but lost his deferment due to World War II. He volunteered in 1943 for the Navy, where he served as a Pharmacist’s Mate with the Hospital Corp. Lee trained in San Diego then shipped out to the South Pacific where he was stationed at the naval base on New Caledonia. As a corpsman, Lee took care of our soldiers both wounded and sick. He hitched a ride home on a tugboat and made it back in 1946.
After the war, Lee attended Baylor University where he met Linda Young. They were married in 1947 and stayed so for 70 years until Labor Day this year. He took the Lord at his word. After Baylor, Lee went to Texas A&M for veterinary school and finished in 1952. He opened Britton Road Veterinary Clinic with his fellow war buddy and class mate Jim Brown, which he developed into one of the foremost veterinary clinics in Oklahoma City. Lee developed a singular expertise in partnership structure and traveled throughout the west giving lectures. He proceeded to work nonstop for the next 67 years until the age of 90, in the process touching the lives of hundreds of aspiring young veterinarians and thousands of clients until he decided it was finally time to rest.
Possessing an abiding interest in all things medicine, Lee served as Chairman of the Board for Baptist Hospital for over 12 years. He took great pride and care in acting as assistant track coach for first his son, and then later his grandsons. He loved his family more than he loved himself, and we never doubted it. The world is a lesser place today without him, but we know heaven rejoices at a life so well lived.
Lee is survived by his wife Linda Holden, his son Dr. David Holden [and his wife Rachel Holden], his daughter Marci Telfair [and her husband Jim Telfair], as well as his grandsons John David Holden [and his wife Amanda Holden], and Dr. Thomas Holden [and his wife Dr. Smita Holden].
Services for Lee will be held on Saturday, September 8, 2018 at 1:00pm, at St. Edward’s Chapel on the campus of Casady School, 9500 N. Pennsylvania Ave., Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73120, with a reception to follow at Calvert Hall.
In lieu of flowers, those who so desire are invited to make donations in memory of Lee to the Wounded Warrior Project, 4899 Belfort Road, Suite 300, Jacksonville, FL 32256.
