Kyle Hue Holladay was born 28 November 1936 and died 17 March 2026. He was a good man and lived a long and happy life. He married Barbara Holladay in 1964, and they had two boys, Richmond “Rich” and Scott Holladay. GranddaughterAnita and grandson Ian are Rich’s kids, and Mom and Dad loved to spend as much time with them kids as possible. Dad lived an exciting life filled with adventure, travel, farming and teaching.He had a thorough knowledge of his close and extended family’s history and all the folks nearby, and spent much of his lifetelling stories with friends and family. It was common in our family to have a nickname and Dad was known as “Cobb”. I don’t know exactly where it came from, but until this day he was Cobb to many who knew him.
Dad lived an interesting life. Born and raised on a farm in Danville, Alabama, he worked closely with his father Clyde as a child and young man. He was tasked with what most kids raised on a farm were required to do in those days, and even as a five year old child, he could do work normally done by grown men. He had many stories of chopping cotton, running the tractor,along with playing basketball when the work was done. His favorite stories generally had something to do with being very young and plowing with an M Farmall tractor.
During his college years Dad split his time into school,basketball and working on the farm during fall, winter and spring, and in the summers he’d travel up to Michigan to work factory jobs. After college, he set off job hunting and landed a teaching position in Statenville, Georgia. At Statenville, he coached basketball and taught Biology and Chemistry. That’s where he met Mom. They soon got married and traveled around the states for a few years working as teachers in Georgia, California, and Florida. They had their two sons and returned to Alabama to teach.
In North Alabama, Dad taught physical education and coached at Hartselle Middle School while also farming. He would often teach all day, and then go to one of his farms and work late into the night only to return to school the next day and do it all over again.
Dad had a desire for travel and adventure and wanted to visit Alaska. In the early 70’s he made his way to Alaska looking for work as a teacher. A couple years later he and Mom got jobs as teachers in North Pole, Alaska, and worked there untilretirement in 1987.
Alaska has many things that he enjoyed doing. One of the things Dad loved the most was fishing for red salmon. It’s not really fishing because you are allowed to use a dipnet to catch the fish. It’s more like scooping up the fish. When the salmon are running hard, it is common to catch two or three fish in one scoop. He would drive to a little town named Chitina where there was access to the Copper River. The river runs through a canyon with steep cliffs one needs to navigate to get to any little space you can stand on, tie yourself off with a rope, and dip the net into the river. where you can fish. He would often bring home 20 or more fish to clean and can.
After retirement Dad and Mom bought a portable sawmill. They travelled around North Alabama and Georgia and cut lumber for people. It was great for keeping them active and they made a lot of friends. I went out sawing with them several times,and I got to say Mom was good at running the saw while Dad discussed many important things at length.
Mom and Dad split their retirement years spent their time between Alabama and Alaska. It seemed they were always in Alaska when it was cold and Alabama when it was hot. Once I asked why, and Dad said because it was too wet in the winter in Alabama. However, I noticed that Alaska became a lot more attractive after the grandkids were born.
Dad had a great sense of humor and would often told stories of the funny things that he had done or lived through. Once when he was getting a truck ready to drive to Alaska from Alabama, he had two large fuel tanks installed. He would be able to flip a switch and pump the fuel from one tank into the truck’s fuel tank. He was all excited to tell me how great this was going to be so he wouldn’t have to pay extra for Canada’s fuel. He said that when he was trying out the new fuel system it worked great! He turned on the fuel and, in a while, noticed it was running out on the ground. He said WOW this new system is working so good it’s making fuel.
There is so much more I wish I could say, so many people to thank for making his life great, and stories to tell, all steeped in southern humor.
After Mom passed away in 2017, Dad lived in Alabama a while and then lived with his sons Scott and Rich in Alaska. He passed away peacefully in his sleep last week. Dad was preceded in death by parents, Clyde and Essie Holladay, sisters Doris Pucket and Paris Holladay, and brother Lyle Reid. His younger sisters Sonja Holladay and Kathy Hildie are still living in North Alabama. Dad will be buried with family and beside Mom in Friendship Baptist Church Cemetery, Danville, Alabama.
A visitation will be held on Monday, March 23, 2026, at Peck Funeral Home from 1:30 PM to 2:30 PM with the graveside service to follow at 3:00 PM at Friendship Baptist Church Cemetery.
