Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Holman, Walter J. August 5, 1875 - June 1921
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com August 28, 2010, 11:23 pm

Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 532 - 533
Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

     WALTER J. HOLMAN ranked as one of the prominent club and business men of 
Portland, where he was widely known, having passed his entire life here. He 
was born August 5, 1875, a son of Edward and Mary (Delin) Holman, who after 
their marriage lived in a house near the present site of the Lincoln high 
school. The birthplace of Walter J. Holman was on the site of the Imperial 
Hotel. He pursued his education in the public schools and in the old Bishop 
Scott Academy, and soon after he was admitted to a partnership in the 
undertaking business by his father and shared with him in his ambition to 
develop the finest business of this character in the city. With his father's 
death he became head of the enterprise but only lived for a brief period 
thereafter.

     On the 14th of October, 1896, Walter J. Holman was united in marriage to 
Miss Mabel May Bird, a representative of one of the old pioneer families of 
the state. Her father, Nathan M. Bird, was born in Yamhill county, Oregon, 
December 12, 1846, and was a son of Henry Bird, whose birth occurred in New 
Jersey in 1767 and who in young manhood went to Kentucky. Henry Bird was 
married in 1841 to Margaret Jane Hussy and soon afterward they came to Oregon. 
Nathan M. Bird was united in marriage to Alice Talbot, whose brother, Charles 
B. Talbot, made the survey for Portland's first water supply — the Bull Run 
system. He and his companion, after a long time spent in the mountains 
surveying the route for the pipe line, dams, etc., were returning to Portland 
and stopped at a ranch where they were chased by a bull. It was this incident 
which caused them to name the clear mountain stream from which Portland's 
water supply was secured, Bull Run. Mabel May Bird, daughter of Nathan M. and 
Alice (Talbot) Bird, became the wife of Walter J. Holman and to them were born 
four sons: Walter Edward, Herbert, Howard and Kenneth, all residing in 
Portland. The family circle was broken by the hand of death when Mr. Holman 
passed away in June, 1921, surviving his father for only six months. He was 
very prominent in club circles and as a sportsman as well as in business. He 
occupied a leading position in Masonic circles, belonging to the various York 
and Scottish Rite bodies, and at the time of his death was orator for Al Kader 
Temple of the Mystic Shrine, also a lieutenant of the Temple Patrol and a 
member of the Court of Honor. He likewise held membership with the Benevolent 
and Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias, the Woodmen of the 
World, the United Artisans and several other organizations. He was also 
prominent and active in civic affairs, having membership in the Portland 
Chamber of Commerce, the Kiwanis Club and the Rosarians, and in the year prior 
to his death acted as treasurer of the Rose Festival. His sterling traits of 
character made him esteemed and honored by all who knew him and his social 
qualities brought to him the friendship of those with whom he came in contact. 
He was regarded as one of Portland's most popular residents.

     Since the death of her husband Mrs. Mabel Holman, now Mrs. Mabel Osborn, 
and her sons have carried on the business which was established by the 
maternal grandfather of her former husband, and today the "House of Holman" is 
a notable feature in the business circles of Portland. It is indeed a home 
mortuary. On the 30th of November, 1924, the Holman company opened this place, 
which stands in the midst of two city blocks and is a beautiful old mansion of 
thirty spacious, sunny rooms, located at Twenty-seventh street and Hawthorne 
avenue. In this has been developed the ideal long entertained by Edward Holman 
and his son, Walter J. Holman, to establish the finest mortuary in the 
northwest.

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