Born July 10, 1925 in Montevideo MN. Parents were Roy Alvin Holzer, a railroad conductor, and his mother was Madge Marie Williams, a nurse. He had an older sister Lois and younger brother Wayne. He went to Montevideo High School where he played football. He joined the Navy in 1943, but was discharged before serving overseas. He graduated with a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Minnesota and worked for IBM in Japan. Later, working for Univac, he was part of the team that installed Arizona's first computer at Arizona Public Service. At APS, he met his wife Ida Howlett and they settled into their home in Central Phoenix where they had two children, David Holzer and Karen Baklouti. He worked for APS for 30 years and retired in 1987.
Paul was a founding member of the APS hiking club, the Kactus Kickers. He led the group on many backpacking trips and also enjoyed rock climbing, camping and mushroom collecting. Paul liked to credit his longevity to participating in the Phoenix College exercise class which he went to three times a week for 25 years. He and Ida were also very active in the Granada neighborhood association and served several times as president. They also participated in the Block Watch on patrol and reported crime to the police and painted out graffiti.
Paul was a quiet, but strong presence and always had a good attitude and a curiosity for figuring things out and starting new projects. He believed the secret to his long life was keeping a good routine. Despite heart failure and COPD in recent years, he stayed as active as he could. He was a good man and a loved father and will be greatly missed.
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