William Knox Holloway 1940 — 2024

William Knox Holloway, known as ‘Bill’ to all, passed away in his sleep on Friday, March 22. Bill was born in San Francisco, where he lived for a short time in the Bay Area and then moved to Long Beach.

In the mid 1950s, his family, along with his sister Bobbie, settled in Sonora, where he graduated from Sonora High School. Bill always had a long lineage in Tuolumne County. His family on his mother’s side (Knox and Miller) had been in Sonora since the 1800s. Bill was married to Jan Holloway for 63 years and they had one son, Tom Holloway (married to Beth Holloway), two granddaughters, Megan Hahn, of Long Beach (married to Kevin Hahn), and Emma Holloway, of Nashville, and one great-grandson, Benjamin William Hahn, who is 3 and adored his ‘Pupah’.

Bill lived a life well lived. He loved his family, he loved Sonora, and most importantly he loved helping people. He worked in heavy construction his whole life and became the manager for California Drilling and Blasting for the last 30+ years, where he worked well into his 70s. His role allowed him to work on iconic projects and travel throughout California and Nevada. He visited some incredibly beautiful locations. In his travels he would often pause and take hikes through the mountains and in the desert. He loved and appreciated the beauty of the world around him.

He spent countless hours working in his yard on ‘the hill’ in downtown Sonora. His days were filled with planting, gardening, building walls, walkways, etc. — he seemed to have limitless energy to make his world a more beautiful place. He was well known at the local nurseries and hardware stores and always had a smile, a story, and a few minutes to listen. He spent much of his time nurturing his garden and his friendships.

Bill was also a helping hand to anyone in need. He would get people jobs, a place to live, and help them traverse some of life’s complexities. There are countless people in the community whose start or sunset in life was made a little better having had Bill in their corner.

With Bill’s passing we have lost a man who could easily recall how so many people in our community were related. He could always remember who had been married to whom; whose parents or aunts and uncles had been here for a hundred years, and he usually had a good story to go along with the relationships. There is hardly a person that has been here longer than two generations that does not have a connection to Bill.

We will miss him dearly and will have a hole in our hearts for quite some time.

Services will be held at 10 a.m. Friday, March 29, at Terzich and Wilson Cremation-funeral Home, 223 E. Rose Ave., at Lyons Street in Sonora.