Sorry about your recent loss. Although I didn't know Mr. Holderbein personally, death affects everyone. Take comfort in knowing that "the God of all comfort who comforts us in our tribulation" is with your family in need (2nd Corinthians 1:3,4).

In 1963 when I was eleven years old my father died of a prolonged kidney disease. My father and Robert where brothers, so Robert was my uncle Bob as long as I can remember. When my father died Uncle Bob and Aunt Carole and son, Robert and daughter, Cindy took on a responsibility that made an immense impact on my mother, sister and myself. While we were residing in the Redding area, and they in Tracy, their family made the

In 1963 when I was eleven years old my father died of a prolonged kidney disease. My father and Robert where brothers, so Robert was my uncle Bob as long as I can remember. When my father died Uncle Bob and Aunt Carole and son, Robert and daughter, Cindy took on a responsibility that made an immense impact on my mother, sister and myself. While we were residing in the Redding area, and they in Tracy, their family made the commute every other weekend for what I can remember as the better part of a years time. Arriving late friday evening, we were always in anticipation of their visit, as Aunt Carole would have made all sorts of food and baked goods, some of which I remember with exact recollection down to this day. Uncle Bob would busy himself around our three acre farm, helping to make the best of our situation. His son Robert and I would more than likely be trying to get out of any hard work by going fishing at the nearby creek. Aunt Carole spent much time talking with my bereaved mother, Wilma, and in helping provide the meals that we Holderbein's are famous for, down to this day. I'm writting this to let anyone who reads it know how important doing something like this was to our family. It made an indelible impression on me about what it meant to be part of a family and how to be a man. It gave me a core principle of what it takes to be responsible and I have often credited those visits with my own eventual maturity and accepting the responsibilities of life. My father was very sick the last few years of his life and was simply not able to be the guiding force in my lfe as I'm sure he wanted to be. Thanks to my Uncle Bob and family, we could always look back and say that family stepped up in the most critical of times and made a difference in our lives and in our future. Later in life, as I was accepting family responsibilities, I was able to recount to Uncle Bob and Aunt Carole what their sacrifice meant to my mother, sister and myself. I wanted as many others to know as well.

With Eternal Gratitude
Dennis Holderbein