Bill Holm - Minneota Poet

            In 1979, Bill was awarded a Fulbright Grant to teach American literature in Iceland,

returning in 1980 to teach at Southwest Minnesota State University, from which he retired in 2007. His first two books, The Music of Failure and Boxelder Bug Variations, were published in 1985.

            In 1986, he was appointed to a faculty exchange position in Xi’an, China, and in 1992, he spent a term teaching literature in Wuhan, China. Other books followed nearly every year, including his Minneota memoir The Heart Can Be Filled Anywhere on Earth (1996) and his most recent book, The Windows of Brimnes (Brimnes is the name of the cottage he purchased in Hofsos, Iceland).

            During these productive years, his work earned much recognition, including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, two Bush Fellowships, a Minnesota Book Award, the Cobb Award for Service to Iceland, an honorary doctorate from Gustavus Adolphus College, and in 2008, the prestigious McKnight Distinguished Artist Award.

            From 1966 to 1974, Bill was married to Judy Carey (of Willmar, Minnesota), who still resides in Hampton, Virginia. While in China in 1986-87, he met Marcella Brekken (of Audubon, Minnesota), who joined him in Minneota after her return from China. They were married in 2006.

            Many of Bill’s students idolized him, not only for his literary prowess and his wide-ranging intellect, but also for his enthusiasms for books and music, and for his kindness and generosity.

            Minneota neighbors recognized him as a person who was knowledgeable, entertaining, and supportive of the community. But his sense of community was broad, and readers and acquaintances all over Minnesota considered him one of their own. One commented online, “It is hard to imagine SW Minnesota without Bill Holm.” 

            News of his death brought phone calls from all over the country, and from abroad. His readers have always felt energized by his writings, which preach the virtues of careful attention, spiritual energy, integrity, and civic responsibility. He saw himself as a missionary out to turn back the forces of narrow-mindedness and selfishness. His personal generosity extended from the smallest of courtesies, to personal loans to friends suffering setbacks, to financial contributions to community causes, to hours of effort in support of public projects, to underwriting Chinese students’ entry to the United States. He did countless benefit concerts and lectures for charitable institutions and arts organizations. When it came to efforts to improve the vigor of society, he could be counted on.

            He generated admiration, respect, affection, and amusement all in good measure, largely because his enthusiasm and commitment could hardly be contained within his sizeable frame and bright red face. No fan of timidity or moderation, he brought prodigious energy to everything he did. As one friend said, “He spent his whole life with his foot firmly on the accelerator.”

            Whenever he hit the brakes, it was usually to call attention to one thing or another that most of us had overlooked. His friend Bharat Pant described him this way: “He was the Poet Laureate of Failure, not in the sense that it is commonly understood, but in the sense that he saw that the line between fallen heroes and those who rise to fame and fortune is razor thin. That gain and loss, and victory and defeat, are two sides of the same coin, and you cannot judge a person simply from his outward shine, but must look more deeply inside. His works were full of such characters—outwardly ordinary but with rich inner lives. I came half way across the world from the mountains of North India and found reflections of my people in Bill's writings. For this I am deeply grateful to Bill.”

            And thousands of people whose lives Bill touched with his understanding of the complexity of ordinary life, and of the need we all have for praise, encouragement, and sympathy, share that gratitude.

            He is survived by his wife Marcella Brekken, his cousin Daren Gislason, his books, and many other cousins by birth or by choice.

            Bill Holm’s funeral is scheduled for Sunday, March 8 at 2:30, at St.Paul’s Lutheran Church in Minneota, Minnesota. Visitation will be from 4:00-8:00 on Saturday, March 7, at the Rehkamp-Horvath Funeral Home in Minneota.

Comments (5)

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written by Joanne Dyhrkopp Schar, March 02, 2009

My family first met Bill and Marcy in Fianarantsoa, Madagascar in 97 or 98, when Bill was on a tour for USIS. He was there to read poetry and play the piano. An evening with electrical problems and language barriers, but Bill left his audience with cries for more. When my son William was a senior in high school in 2003, Bill came to Spencer, Iowa and was guest poet at Spencer High School and did a poetry reading at Arts on Grand. We always thought there was time to do it again. We already miss him! H & Joanne and Sarah & William

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written by Baldur Gunnarsson, March 04, 2009

Bill Holm was my teacher at the University of Iceland in 1979.

What a GREAT guy he was.

Farewell, Bill.

Baldur Gunnarsson.

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written by Pamela Hammond, March 07, 2009

Through the happenstance of reading a book review of the "Windows of Brimnes" in the L.A. Times, I ordered and relished reading Bill Holms' book - albeit his last. I was there with him - every step on a path, every view of the land. I had recently traveled Iceland and Bill pointed to so much that I wish I had carried with me while there. But more, it was the personal nature of the read, indeed, I felt I knew him. When I saw the obituary in the L.A. Times, I was heart sick. A friend had died. A superb writer. A thinker. A man of good heart. My condolences to his loved ones, friends and students. Thank goodness for his life.
- Pamela Hammond

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written by Lynn Fisher Minneapolis MN, March 15, 2009

Musical poetry, I ask did Bill Holm gain inspired feeling from Edgar Allan Poe as many of my generation did? We must continue onward. I, Lynn, was also given birth in 1943.

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written by Becky Haas, March 21, 2009

Bill was my college professor at SSU in Marshall. He did an amazing job of making everyone get involved, either by his asking direct questions or making his students see the literature from different eyes. He was an incredible teacher, critic, writer, storyteller....all around incredible person. I was also lucky enough to work in the English department office and discuss the literature with him at length outside of class. He will be greatly missed by all those people who were lucky enough to cross his path. He will remain in my heart forever. I consider myself extremely lucky to have been one of his students....I wish that more people would've been able to have that experience.

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