John Holder, 86, war veteran ran business in Hapeville

John Holder returned to Hapeville from military service in the late 1940s and took over the family grocery. He eventually turned the business into Holder Tire & Automotive. Decades later, in the early 1990s, he passed the operation on to his son, John Holder Jr. of Roswell.

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John Martin Holder came from a farm family and enjoyed golf and travel.

“I don’t think there is a date you can say that he retired from the business,” his son said. “He still came over pretty much every day and would help out — run errands, drive the truck around, talk to customers. I used to kid him that I was going to get him a barrel to put his checkerboard on, he hung around so much.”

In the early 1930s, Mr. Holder’s family moved from Atlanta to a 4-acre tract in Hapeville, where they grew crops and raised stock. Other relatives lived with them during the hardscrabble days of the Great Depression.

“They farmed every inch of that land,” said Gloria Nash Holder, his wife of 62 years. “They were farming people.”

John Martin Holder Sr., 86, of Hapeville died Saturday from complications of esophageal cancer at Sacred Journey Hospice in McDonough. The funeral is 11 a.m. Tuesday at Hapeville First United Methodist Church. Donehoo-Lewis Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Mr. Holder had attended Georgia Tech before he joined the military. When he returned, the 1940 Hapeville High grad enrolled at Georgia State University, where he earned a degree in commercial science. He met his future wife in a psychology class.

“He really rescued me — I was about to decide to marry somebody else,” his wife said, “and I wasn’t really sure about it. When I walked in the room and saw him sitting there, I knew right away who he was.”

His parents, Jessie and Henry Holder, had bought more land in Hapeville and built a two-story brick building with living quarters up top and a grocery below. He took over the store and transformed it into an auto and truck repair shop. Today, it’s at 451 N. Central Ave.

Mr. Holder was a 60-year member of Hapeville First United Methodist Church. He held posts with the Hapeville Chamber of Commerce and the town’s development authority, among other civic roles. The avid golfer and traveler held offices with the Travelers Protective Association, a nonprofit that promotes travel and child safety.

Even though Mr. Holder didn’t see combat during World War II, he relished his three years in the military. Besides being an aerial gunner, he was trained as a bombsight mechanic. He was eager to see battle, but the war passed him by.

“He never did go overseas,” his wife said. “The Pacific theater was over just before his crew got to go.”

Additional survivors include another son, Mark Holder of Lake Allatoona; a sister, Elizabeth Holder Worley of Perry; and six grandchildren.