Jackie Holland

Jackie Holland, age 95 of Spearfish, went home to heaven on Sunday January 21, 2024 at the Spearfish Canyon Healthcare Center.

 Jackie’s life will be celebrated 11am Friday, January 26, 2024 at the Mt. Pisgah Cemetery Chapel in Gillette, WY.  There will be a visitation one hour before the service at the chapel.  Funeral arrangements are with Leverington Funeral Home of the Northern Hills in Belle Fourche.  Friends may leave condolences online at: LeveringtonFH.com. 

Mary Jacqueline Smith was born August 26, 1928 in Prescott, Arizona.  She was the daughter of James and Anna (McClaughry) Smith, and the sister of James “Palmer” Smith. In stories told to her grandchildren, Jackie recalled being able to roller skate across the city of Phoenix as a school girl. A lifelong learner, Jackie graduated from Phoenix Union High School.

Jackie attended the University of Arizona, Tucson, upon graduation. She wanted to go for something pertaining to ranching or ag management, but her father thought that was not fitting for a girl and insisted that she pursue nursing or education. She acquiesced, but was always a country girl at heart. She attended the Southern Arizona International Livestock Show (SAILS) with her livestock judging team, and it was at this livestock show that, on February 11, 1948, she met the love of her life.  Roy Holland was there showing a bull and Jackie was watching the show with her team. Jackie later told her grandchildren she did not remember much about the bulls, but she was quite taken with Roy. 

They had their first date two days later on Friday, February 13, when Roy took Jackie to a Valentine’s dance at his fraternity, the Alpha Gamma Rho house. During their dating days, Roy would take Jackie to his family’s ranch, Rancho Sacatal, at the foot of the Dos Cabezas mountains, where, in her words, he took her riding on the steepest hills on the ranch. 

The two were married on April 18, 1949 in Phoenix, AZ. Big band artist Al Jolson’s “The Anniversary Song,” released in 1946, was of particular significance to them at that time. They began their life at Rancho Sacatal, raising nationally renowned Hereford cattle. Roy and Jackie welcomed three children, Robin, Lisa, and David, into their home, then, realizing they still had more room in their hearts and home, welcomed Grant, Tracy, and Lee. Jackie’s children recall that their dignified, proper, never-make-a-spectacle-in-public, always-a-lady mother would also fire up the stereo at home and sing show tunes, even occasionally “busting out a dance move.” She particularly enjoyed Rogers and Hammerstein musicals and passed that love on to her grandchildren. 

She was a gifted artist, played the cello, was a master of silly songs, was greatly gifted in hospitality, specialized in Mexican food, was a wonderful 4-H leader who helped several young Arizonians achieve state and national recognition. She enjoyed card games and Scrabble, and would have dominated at Jeopardy had she ever played on the real show instead of simply on her couch in the evening with Roy. She was a spelunker and adventurer, and once flew down the Grand Canyon with her cousin.  

Never afraid of hard work, she cooked three meals a day for the ranch hands and did their laundry. Her children fondly recall days of working cattle when Jackie would bring a meal down to wherever they were working. In spite of the busyness of ranching, Jackie and Roy had a gift of making memories with their children: taking them to the Chiricahuas for picnics and camping trips, family vacations in a rented cottage in the San Diego area, trips to the San Diego Zoo and to the beach, coaching as they practiced 4-H demonstrations and speeches. A woman of refinement herself, Jackie reminded her children whenever they left the house to remember that they represented the Holland family, and their father was a man of great respect in the community and it was incumbent upon them to do nothing to sully his name. 

In 1971, the family moved to the Chino Valley in Arizona and tried their hand at farming. Fruits of their labor (pinto beans, in this case) were enjoyed by their grandchildren years later. In 1978 they moved to Gillette, Wyoming, where Roy worked as the Campbell County Ag Extension Agent, and Jackie continued as his faithful and fun-loving sidekick. 

Roy and Jackie had accepted Jesus as their Savior in their early days together, but it was during their time in Gillette, when the Spirit was doing a mighty work in spite of the roughness of the era and area, that they truly dove into making Him their Lord as well. From their passion for Him and His kingdom came the founding of Gillette Christian Center, whose earliest church services were hosted in Roy and Jackie’s back room. They were open about their faith with their grandchildren and invested mightily in passing on a legacy of active faith and steadfast faithfulness. 

Following Roy’s retirement in 1988, Roy and Jackie traveled the country volunteering at Christian camps, colleges, and churches for the next 15 years, serving with Servants on Wheels Ever Ready (SOWERS).  In 2006 they moved to Spearfish, where they enjoyed the church family at Grace Community Church. Roy fondly referred to their home in Spearfish as The Crossroads because of how it was directly in the path of many of their now-grown family members as they traveled between their homes in Wyoming and South Dakota. Roy and Jackie faithfully rose at 5 o’clock each morning to have devotions, breakfast, prayer, and a crossword puzzle before calling Palmer at 6:15 to check on him and visit about their days. In the evenings, they would take out a jigsaw puzzle of magnitude and difficulty and laugh together as they bested the puzzles. They had a rule that they could not look at the cover of the puzzle box as they did the puzzle. Together, Roy and Jackie were blessed with 67 years of marriage, being parted by death in 2016, days after their anniversary.

 Jackie remained in her home until just weeks before her death. God was faithful even in her passing: she stole away quietly and peacefully in the night, stepping out of this land of shadows into the land of true life. 

Jackie is survived by her daughters, Robin Lorenzen of Spearfish; Lisa (Richard) Mesnard of Scottsdale AZ, Tracy Holland of Mesa AZ; sons, David (Sandra) Holland of Moorcroft WY, Grant Holland of Austin TX; 10 grandchildren: Christine, Charity, Chastity, Amity, Christian, Trinity, Sterling, Austin, Devonna, and Zach; and many great grandchildren. 

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband; stillborn brother, Timothy; brother, James Palmer Smith; son, Lee; and great-granddaughter, Taisley Lewis.

Service of Celebration

11:00 A.M. – Friday – January 26, 2024

Mount Pisgah Cemetery Chapel

Gillette, Wyoming

Officiant

Mark Leverington

Tribute

David Holland

Special Music

“It is Well” – “In the Garden”

~ by granddaughters, Charity, Chasity, Amity, Trinity ~

Casketbearers

Carter Crump                                                           Jake Julson

John David Crump                                                 Joe Kissack

Titus Crump                                                          Justin Lewis

Interment

Mount Pisgah Cemetery

Gillette, Wyoming