Doris Anne Fieg Holm, 97, died May 31 in Elk Grove, Calif. She was born on October 1, 1927, in Montclair, N.J. to Max Eugene and Louise Voorhees Fieg.
A gifted artist, Doris graduated with a fine arts degree in 1949 from Syracuse University with honors in art, interior design, and advertising. She was president of her sorority, Delta Zeta. It was at Syracuse where she met her future husband, Bob, and they married on June 25, 1949.
The Holms lived in Hudson, N.Y., many years, where their five children were born. They moved to the West in 1964 for her health and lived in Phoenix and Albuquerque before moving in 1966 to the South Sacramento area in California, where Bob was a department store manager.
In 1976 they moved to the Sheldon area of Elk Grove into a home Doris designed from an existing shop-barn structure—calling the place Wheel C Ranch, a homophone of Bob's familiar response to questions, "We'll see." There they boarded horses for friends, and she furthered her skills as a horsewoman. She also was an avid golfer and achieved a hole-in-one at Emerald Lakes Golf Course in Elk Grove.
Doris worked as a homemaker and a watercolor artist, created interior and advertising design, was a teacher for 19 years at Pleasant Grove Elementary School in rural Elk Grove, and drafted hundreds of house plans for individuals and businesses after her retirement from teaching. She and Bob also had a part-time catering business in their retirement years.
A life-long member of the Episcopal Church, Doris served many years in the choir and as organist at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Galt, where she volunteered in other capacities as well. Doris also served many charitable organizations, including Elk Grove Inner Wheel, the Elk Grove Regional Scholarship Foundation, and Project R.I.D.E.’s therapeutic horseback riding program.
She is survived by her children Janet Holm McHenry, Peter Nyquist Holm, Roberta Anne Martinez, and Matthew Charles Holm, as well as many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She was predeceased by her husband, Robert Arthur Holm; daughter Nancy Louise Wiley; her parents, Max Eugene and Louise Voorhees Fieg; and siblings Carl Fieg, Henry Fieg, Janet Fieg Gregory, Emma Fieg Walter, Helen Stiles Santina, and Ruth Stiles Tomasko.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m., Aug. 2, at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 200 B. Street, Galt CA 95632. Memorial contributions may be made payable to St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and sent in care of Janet McHenry, PO Box 750, Loyalton CA 96118.
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Janet McHenry
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