Carol Badger Holder

Carol Badger Holder, 90, of Clifton passed away Monday, February 2, 2015, at Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. Graveside services will be held at 2:00 p.m. Sunday, February 8, 2015, at Clifton Memorial Park in Clifton with Rev. Reed Justus officiating. Mrs. Holder will lie in state at the funeral home on Saturday, February 7, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday, February 8, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Family and friends will gather at Isbell's Restaurant, 127 North Avenue D, Clifton, TX 76634, following the service.

Carol Badger Holder was born in New Hampshire on September 5, 1924. She embodied the classic New England values of hard work, personal responsibility, civic duty and as she would say, "minding your own business." She took pride in the fact that her ancestors had migrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony from England in 1639. Her father, Ron was a printer and her mother, Enid was a teacher until she had Carol and her younger sister, Norma. The family lived in Concord, New Hampshire and spent their summers on Newfound Lake in central New Hampshire.

Carol graduated from Concord High School then entered nursing school at Dartmouth's Mary Hitchcock Hospital in Hanover, New Hampshire. After becoming a registered nurse, she worked in Boston and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Her planned trip, working her way west, ended in Houston when she met Wiseman Holder who was in medical training there. They dated and eventually married and moved to Clifton where Wiseman joined the medical practice of Drs. Van Goodall and Seth Witcher. Carol worked as a staff nurse on occasions and taught LVN classes for a time. There are many who have served and currently serve in the nursing profession who credit Carol's encouragement and support as being influential in their careers.

Carol and Wiseman had three children, Kenneth, Janet, and Cindy, who graduated from Clifton High School and pursued professional careers elsewhere in Texas. Carol spent her time volunteering at First Methodist Church where she set up the first computer database. After Wiseman retired, they enjoyed many years of family and travel until Dr. Holder suffered an illness that left him incapacitated. Carol, tirelessly and heroically, devoted her life to his care until he died. Much to her sadness, her own medical problems then necessitated leaving Clifton for Dallas for the remaining years of her life. And while issues of age and health may have dominated the last years of her life, her primary concerns were her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, extended family, and friends remaining in Clifton. She delighted for weeks at the memory of visits and phone calls from and family and friends in Clifton and New Hampshire. She remarked on many occasions that while she could never have anticipated the manner in which her life would unfold, she was very grateful for the way it did and the people in it.

Survivors include her three children, Dr. Ken Holder and Matthew Johnson of Humble, Janet Outlaw and husband, Tim, of Midland, and Cindy Steiner and husband, Mark, of Dallas; sister, Norma George of New Hampshire; seven grandchildren, Travis Holder, Whitney Holder, Jamie Napolitano and husband, Gary, Lesley Outlaw-Haas, Justin Outlaw and wife, Ragan, Maddie Steiner, and Ben Steiner; five great-grandchildren, Reese Napolitano, Brady Napolitano, Taylor Haas, Hunter Outlaw, and Kade Outlaw; and special friends, Marilyn Holder and Peggy Berry.

Memorials may be made to the First United Methodist Church in Clifton.