Muscle Shoals, Alabama

Public Notice

City Remembers Council President Holland
[Posted 2/21/2016]  

Reprinted with permission of the Times Daily.

 

MUSCLE SHOALS — Jim Holland entered every Muscle Shoals City Council meeting with a smile. He was often the last of the five council
members to reach the meeting table, because on his way from the door of the City Hall auditorium to the work table, he greeted each person in
attendance.

Holland died at his home Friday morning after a battle with cancer. He was 82. 

“Jim Holland was the best friend anyone could ask for,” City Councilman Allen Noles said. He and Holland served nearly 24 years together as
councilmen. “He had a willingness to work with anybody and always put the city first. That meant the most to him.”

Holland in 1992 was elected to the city’s first council. He served six consecutive terms.

The 1992 council got to work quickly after being elected to solve flooding woes that plagued the city. Holland’s financial wisdom was invaluable
to the city, officials said.

“His financial expertise is a huge reason why Muscle Shoals is financially stable now,” Councilman Joe Pampinto said. “He’s a real, real gentleman,
a class act and one of the most kind and giving people I’ve ever been around.”

Holland graduated from Belgreen High School in 1951 and the University of North Alabama in 1955. He retired after 30 years of work with
Reynolds Metals. He then operated as a private accountant and had a tax preparation business.

He was a member of Highland Park Baptist Church. The Rev. Jim Warren said he and Holland were friends for a decade, and Holland was
unwavering.

“Jim Holland was the sort of man everyone wants for a friend,” Warren said. “He was a Christian gentleman whose character and moral integrity
were exceptional. As he served on the Muscle Shoals City Council term after term, the citizens learned that he wanted only the best for everyone.
That’s who he was. Kind, patient, humble and remarkably intelligent, Jim Holland will be remembered by us all with love and respect.”

“Jim was quiet, very mild mannered and a true numbers man,” Muscle Shoals Mayor David Bradford said. “He handled every situation with
grace and honor, and continued to work for making Muscle Shoals better.”

Earlier this week, the street behind City Hall was renamed in honor of Holland. Broad Street is now Jim Holland Drive.

Noles remembered a Florida beach trip he took with a friend as a young adult. Noles said he and his friend got to the end of their trip and
did not have the money to make the return trip to Muscle Shoals. By happenstance, he ran into Holland on the beach.

Noles said Holland took the pair in for the night, fed them and put them on the road with money to make the return trip safely.

“He’s is the type of person I could always go to,” Noles said.

Visitation for Holland will be noon to 2 p.m. Monday at Highland Park Baptist Church. The funeral service will follow at 2 p.m. in the church
sanctuary.  He will be buried in Colbert Memorial Gardens.

jennifer.edwards@TimesDaily.com or 256-740-5754. Twitter @TD_JEdwards.

 


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