Kenneth Holland

These are men who inspired me as a kid. Hardworking men of the earth and sea. None of them were perfect, but each lived life on his own terms. If I can only come close to living the lives they've led, I'll have been successful.

The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore.

~ Vincent Van Goh

(Ken is my Mom's oldest sister's husband, and lived two doors down from us on Jura Beach, in Anacortes, WA.)

A lifelong salt who spun a fine yarn, Kenneth Holland, 75, died Saturday, March 6, 2004, at his home in Anacortes, from complications of chronic emphysema, a disease common to smokers.

The crab fisherman who spent decades battling big swells and slop in the waters of Washington and Alaska was born Dec. 23, 1928, on dry land in Copperstown, N.D.

His family moved to Olympia when he was a boy, and he fell in love with the sea, floating off on logs or hobbled-together rafts. After his family moved to Anacortes, the young teen canvassed and tarred a kayak frame and paddled solo from island to island in the San Juans.

That would be the first of many boats Kenneth would build, including a beautiful mahogany hydroplane, an 18-foot sailboat, custom kayaks and a classic 26-foot Columbia River double-ender.

After graduating from Anacortes High School in 1947, Kenneth went to work in the local plywood mill his father supervised for more than a decade.

In the mid-1950s, he began crabbing local waters in a flat-bottomed, 19-foot skiff, selling his catch on weekends from a pickup at Sharpe's Corner, along with his wife Carolyn Holland.

Kenneth bought his first crab boat, the F. V. Dora H in 1964, followed by the 72-foot Point Omega, the 98-foot Carolyn Jean and the 98-foot Barbarossa. Kenneth and his crews crabbed the waters off Kodiak Island, working short seasons and long hours. His men described their skipper as "all business" behind the wheel.

After he became sick with emphysema, Kenneth, staring out at Similk Bay from his beachside home, would regale friends and family with lively tales of the sea.

He would describe horrific swells, rogue waves, 80 mph southwesters, weeks without sleep and catches that might or might not make it all worth it.

"You always hope for the best and you usually end up with the worst — but that's fishing," Kenneth often liked to say.

He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Carolyn; his sons and daughter-in-law, Kenneth and Christine Holland of Kodiak, Alaska, and Richard Holland of Anacortes; his daughters and son-in-law, Kathryn Holland of Anacortes and Rebecca and Kenneth Bangsund of Everett; his seven grandchildren, Shawn and Megan Holland and Sunshine and Aaron Stevens of of Kodiak, Serina and Matthew Armstrong, Karen Bangsund and Devin Bangsund of Everett and Travis Smith and Vannessa Biggers of Anacortes; and four great-grandchildren, Winter, Hunter, Zanna and Kadin Stevens.

Kenneth will be cremated and buried at sea, with no formal services. His family has asked that memorials be sent to Skagit Hospice Foundation, P.O. Box 1376, Mount Vernon, WA 98273; or Children's Orthopedic Hospital, MS/S-200, P.O. Box 50020, Seattle, WA 98145-5020.

Arrangements are in the care of Evans Funeral Chapel of Anacortes.