Dec. 4, 1947 – Oct. 21, 2019

Ron Holliday, age 71, passed away at his home on Monday, Oct. 21. A celebration of his life will be held at 2 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 1 at the Grant County Fairgrounds Pavilion. Friends are invited to remain at the pavilion and join the family for a reception following the celebration.

Ronald Clyde Holliday was born Dec. 4, 1947 in Prairie City, Oregon. Ron was the third born and first son of Clyde and Earlene Holliday. He spent his first years in Mt. Vernon, near what is now Clyde Holliday State Park, and attended Mt. Vernon grade school. He spent most of his time with his cousins LB and Dueford Adams. As a young boy Ron desperately wanted to be a cowboy, but his dad was a lifetime logger. At 10 years old his dream came true. Clyde bought the old Herman Oliver Ranch and that would change all of their lives forever. Unfortunately, on the very same day that they bought the ranch, Clyde and Earlene were in a devastating motorcycle accident. These bittersweet events would alter Ron’s young life and cut short his childhood. The Holliday’s would then move to the ranch between John Day and Prairie City, and ranch life began. Ron attended Grant Union High School but wanted to be out on the new family ranch every day. He married Sue Nelson on Oct. 31, 1969. Ron and Sue started their own family right away with Chad, Mandy, Tonna and Billy. He and his family moved to Bear Valley, on Scotty Creek Road, where he would spend the rest of his life raising kids, hay and cattle. He was very proud of his kids and taught all of them how to do whatever job it took to help run the Clyde Holliday & Sons Ranch. Along with his brothers Kenny and Darrel and their kids and their dad Clyde, Ron lived his destiny as a rancher and a cowboy. Most of Ron’s cowboy influence came from Carlene’s husband, Guido Damer.

He loved calving cows down on Pine Creek in the spring, putting up loose hay in John Day Valley and Bear Valley in the summer, gathering cattle off the allotments, from Fall Mountain to Bear Creek, in the fall, and feeding cows in Bear Valley all winter. Ron loved to hunt coyotes, bobcats, deer and elk but especially loved being on horseback. He was an incredible storyteller with a real strong sense of humor. He also had an extensive knowledge of history and guns. Although Ron never cared much for school, he could have been a university professor on any historical era from pre-historic to the Roman Empire, and in American history from the Industrial Revolution to the Civil War, where he had a vast knowledge.

Ron is preceded in death by his parents, Clyde and Earlene Holliday; and his son, Billy Clyde Holliday.

He is survived by his son, Chad Holliday (Erica); grandson, Chase Holliday; daughter, Mandy Taylor (Skip Ryder) granddaughter Grace Taylor; daughter, Tonna Holliday (Jay Kenyon); granddaughter, Billy Radinovich; sisters, Carlene Damer (Guido Damer); sister Sharon Mitchell; brothers Darrel Holliday (Kathy Holliday) and Kenny Holliday (Pat Holliday); and several nieces and nephews.

— Paid for by the family of Ronald Clyde Holliday.