Linda Holm passes away

Linda Holm - Class of 1961 graduation photograph

Our dear classmate, Linda Holm, passed away January 31, 2019, in the Hospice Unit at Mercy Hospital in Valley City, N. Dak. She struggled bravely for over a year in her battle with cancer.
Linda, the daughter of Francis W. and Frances (Piller) Holm, was born August 27, 1943 in Valley City.

Her family will honor her request for no funeral and, when the time is right, her ashes will be scattered.

Diane (Sauer) Hughes sent a tribute to our class email list and included these comments from me:

Per alpha order, I sat in high school classes next to Linda. I was G and she was H. Linda would tell me of her dream to head for Hollywood after graduation and write about the stars. She did exactly that and landed a job with Photoplay magazine. She was an editorial staff member (reporter/writer) for ten years, on board until the magazine closed. Her most exciting interviews were with Elvis Presley in Las Vegas and covering the Golden Globe Awards both in Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

In 1968, Linda was in the audience for the taping of the Elvis Comeback Special, which aired on the NBC-TV network on December 3rd of that year. During the recording session at NBC's Burbank, California, studios, Linda was invited by the producers to sit at the edge of the stage. The actual performance from that special was used to make a single 45 rpm record that achieved #1 on the Billboard magazine charts. If you do a YouTube search on "Elvis Comeback Special," you may still find a clip of that song, with Linda sitting by the stage as Elvis sings to her. There are two versions of this video, one with Linda and another with another young lady. In the video with Linda, she's in a blue dress.

After Linda moved back to Valley City, she and I communicated through old-fashioned letters. She didn't have email and didn't want it, often sending me a sheaf of magazine and news clippings on subjects she knew I would be interested in. Linda took care of her mother for several decades right until she passed away in 2011 at the age of 102. This was a remarkable commitment by Linda, not without sacrificing her career.

Linda was always ready for a good phone conversation on a variety of subjects. She knew a lot about Hollywood, from the inside, and I encouraged her to write about it. Alas, she never did. But if you ever visited with her, as a number of us did over the years, she enjoyed sharing her memories during the decade of more she spent in California.

Linda, photographed at a 2014 Lunch Bunch
gathering in Valley City

Linda continued to live in her family home at 541 2nd Avenue NE in Valley City until shortly before her death. Many of us had an opportunity to talk with her at Lunch Bunch gatherings.

May God bless the memory of Linda Holm and be with her family at this time. - Larry Gauper, 2-1-2019)