HOLIEN, Dale c1943-1998

HOLIEN, MEEKER, JOHNSON, ECKHOFF

Posted By: S. Bell
Date: 5/21/2014 at 22:14:52

[Waterloo Courier, December, 1998]

The only survivor of a massive gas explosion in 1994 that flattened Buzz's Bar has died.

Dale Holien, 55, of 909 Longfellow Ave., miraculously lived through the October 1994 explosion, though six others died.

On Thursday, Holien died at his cabin in Minnesota after a lengthy illness. It was not immediately known whether his death was related to the injuries he suffered in the explosion.

Described by friends as a private person, Holien was usually tight-lipped in public about the explosion. He refused media requests for interviews, but could remember most of the episode, family members said.

He was conscious during the explosion, his brother said. The blast threw him to the basement of the building. He crawled to the surface before being rescued. The two men who pulled him from the wreckage, who worked in a neighboring building, were hailed as heroes.

At a "Welcome Home, Dale" party that November, Holien appeared in a wheelchair with gloves over his burned hands. He choked up when expressing thanks to the community.

"The outpouring of support from the community has kept me going," he said. "It's unbelievable. If I do get down, I go to the cards and letters, and it brings me back to reality.

"I've made it this far," he said later. "In turn, I want to show people that I will go all the way."

Buzz's Bar has since been rebuilt at a new location.

The explosion was actually his second such experience. While serving in the Vietnam War, Holien was in a building next to a tavern in Saigon that was blown up with a homemade bomb.

Born in Waterloo, he graduated in 1960 from Columbus High School. He served 12 years in the U.S. Air Force, including two tours of duty in Vietnam. He retired in 1995 from the Army Aviation Facility in Waterloo, not long after the accident.

He is survived by his wife, Donna, four children, his mother, a brother and three sisters.

Services are Wednesday at Locke Funeral Home, with burial in the Garden of Memories Cemetery. Friends may call from 4 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the funeral home.

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Son of Harold and Dorothy Meeker Holien. [Waterloo Courier 9-12-76, 35th anniv of Harold & Dorothy Holien] Other children mentioned: Mr. and Mrs. Ronald (Pat) Johnson, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Holien of Kincheloe. Mich., Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth (Sharon) Eckhoff of Cedar Falls, Mr. and Mrs. David Holien and Andrea.