C. E. Holloway

On March 19, 2018 at the age of 95, C. E. Holloway, long-time owner of Marshall & Marshall Funeral Directors of Hillsboro and Whitney, passed away at Town Hall Estates Nursing Home in Hillsboro. Funeral services will be at 10:00 AM, Thursday, March 22nd at the Marshall & Marshall Chapel in Hillsboro with Rev. John Nader and Rev. Nancy Schusler officiating. Burial will follow at Hillcrest Garden of Memory near Hillsboro. Visitation will be from 5:00-6:30 PM, Wednesday at the funeral home.

Born in Tidwell in northern Hunt County on December 31, 1922, C. E. was one of six children born to C. E. and Lois (McKinney) Holloway. He grew up in the Tidwell and Greenville area before graduating from Farmersville High School. While working in the fields after school, he was offered a job at Fielder Baker Funeral Home in Farmersville which he gladly accepted. It was the beginning of a career that would span seven decades. That career path would be put on hold however, with his enlistment in the U. S. Navy in the summer of 1942. C. E. served in the South Pacific, including duty on the U.S.S. Indianapolis. He received his honorable discharge in January of 1946 and returned to Farmersville and the funeral home.

Following the war, C. E. enrolled in mortuary college in Houston and received his funeral director and embalming license in January 1947. During this same time, he met and began to court his future wife, Lillie Fae Stanley. The couple was united in marriage on June 1, 1947 and they celebrated their 70th anniversary this past June. On January 1, 1949, he accepted an offer from Louie Marshall to join the staff of Marshall & Marshall in Hillsboro.

A tireless worker, C. E. soon became part owner of the firm and with the passing of Mr. Marshall in 1967, he became a full partner and manager of the organization which had just opened a second location in Whitney. In 1985, C. E. and Lillie acquired the remaining interest in the firm. He continued to work daily well into his eighties before turning the day to day operations over to his daughters and sons-in-law. At the time of his passing, he held the oldest active funeral directing and embalming license in the State of Texas, having been a licensed funeral director for 71 years.

For more than 50 years, C. E. was a member of Hillsboro Lions Club, Hillsboro Masonic Lodge #196 AF&AM, and First United Methodist Church in Hillsboro where he and Lillie Fae attended the We Were Young Once Sunday school class. During his early years with Marshall & Marshall, he maintained his pilot’s license and would often transport deceased persons by plane for the funeral home before the airlines served as many areas as they do now. He also served on the Board of Directors for Hillsboro State Bank from 1984 until its acquisition by Bank of America.

His hobby was work, with the exception of the occasional trip to the mountains or California, or a favorite fishing hole. For a number of years he raised polled herefords. He also had a prize vegetable garden and numerous fruit trees for many years that he loved to tend and share with family and friends. Even into his nineties, he was often found on his mower taking care of his four-acre yard.

Preceding him in death were his parents; three brothers, Pete, Mack and Harold Holloway; and a sister, Martha Dunham. Left to cherish his memory is his wife, Lillie Fae; two children, Jan Shaw and husband, James, of Whitney, Jackie Dumas and husband, Pat, of Hillsboro; brother, Billy Ray Holloway and wife, Virginia, of San Ramon, CA; three grandchildren, Matt Dumas and wife, Sarah, of Allen, Jon Shaw and wife, Ruthie, of Chalk Bluff, and Jeff Shaw and fiancee, Amber Williams, of Fort Worth; three great-grandchildren, Ellie and Beckett Dumas, and Holly Sue Shaw; and many nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to First United Methodist Church; PO Box 673; Hillsboro, TX 76645.

Visitation

5:00 PM - 6:30 PM ,Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Marshall & Marshall Funeral Directors in Hillsboro
2495 Corsicana Highway Hillsboro, TX 76645

Funeral Service

10:00 AM ,Thursday, March 22, 2018
Marshall & Marshall Funeral Directors in Hillsboro
2495 Corsicana Highway Hillsboro, TX 76645

Burial

Thursday, March 22, 2018
Hillcrest Garden of Memory
3838 State Highway 22 Hillsboro, TX 76645