LITTLE ROCK — When students were choosing math courses at the college where Bill Holder taught, his classes came with a warning.
“I’ll put it this way - one of the people that worked at Westark college advised me not to take him and one other math instructor because they were the toughest ones in that school,” former student Marion McKinzie said. “But I liked him.”
B.L. “Bill” Holder, a math teacher for 29 years,died Friday at his Fort Smith home from complications stemming from a broken hip.
He was 87.
In the early 1940s, Holder, who grew up in Calico Rock, joined the U.S. Navy.
“He was a master electrician,” said his son-in law, Jay Williams. “One job in particular he was proud of [was when] he was in charge of running the big movie theaters on the ships. [He] set up the projectors.”
After serving three years, Holder went to college at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville to become a teacher. Holder received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1952 and six years later, received a master’s in education, Jay Williams said.
“[Math] was his favorite subject. He loved to do it,” said his granddaughter-in law, Jennifer Williams. “He could do it in his head.”
In 1957, Holder began teaching math courses, from geometry to trigonometry, at Fort Smith Junior College, which later became Westark Junior College and then Westark Community College. It now is the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith.
“My father was actually a student of his,” Jennifer Williams said. “He said he was one of the hardest teachers that he has ever had, but whenever you left the class, you knew the stuff.”
McKinzie took Holder’s college algebra class in the early 1980s.
“He was fair. He wasn’t strict, but you wound up with a lot of work to do,” McKinzie said. “He had sort of like an open-door policy ... if you needed help, he was willing to work with you after class.”
Even after retiring in 1986, Holder often attended events at the university.
“If he could make it, he was there,” Jennifer Williams said. “He just thought it was kind of fun when someone remembers him and talks to him. He liked seeing old students.”
While both retired, Holder and his wife “wanted to go and do everything,” Jennifer Williams said.
After his wife died in 1992, Holder remarried and continued to travel everywhere from Branson to Niagara Falls.
A devout Methodist, Holder went to church every Sunday. He enjoyed places that combined nature and religion, including the Thorncrown Chapel near Eureka Springs, his granddaughter-in-law said.
“[He liked] to see outside and see the trees and everything around you and get back to what it was before the busyness” of life, Jennifer Williams said. “Basically anything God made, he wanted to see it.”
Holder suffered from Alzheimer’s disease for several years, but he always enjoyed fishing and time with his family.
“He’s a laid-back guy ... He’d sit there and crack jokes and just have fun,” Jennifer Williams said. “He was very involved with his family. He just loved to be around the kids.”
Arkansas, Pages 10 on 05/28/2012