Bryan, Alice Tam Holt (1914-2008)

TAM, HOLT, BRYAN, COOPER, BASH, CURTIS, ZIBIT, SHURA, OSBRINK

Posted By: Pat J. (email)
Date: 2/2/2011 at 13:36:10

Park Rapids Enterprise

Alice Tam Holt Bryan passed away May 21st at 12:58 PM at St. Joseph Hospital in Park Rapids, MN after her heart failed. With her at the time of her death were her daughter-in-law Pamela Holt, her good friend Dixie Swanson and her physician Dr. Vern Erickson. Her funeral is Tuesday May 27th at 10 AM with a viewing at 9 AM at the Hubbard United Methodist Church and officiated by Rev. Gary Walpole. Her grandson Joseph Holt accompanied on guitar by Roy Herhsberger will perform: The Battle Hymn of the Republic, Amazing Grace and Do Lord.

Alice was born in Des Moines, Iowa June 26, 1914 to Joseph Stephen Tam and Frances Cooper Tam. She was the oldest of four sisters with one older brother and one brother drying as an infant. Alice graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in the spring of 1932 and married Marshall Myron Holt on October 31, 1932. She bore her first son Marshall Myron Holt Jr. May 28, 1933.

During WW II Alice and Marshall Jr. traveled to California to be near her husband who was in the Navy. After the war she returned to Des Moines and bore her second son Stephen Jon Holt, May 13, 1948.

Alice and her family were active members of Central Christian Church in downtown Des Moines for many years. She loved to sing in the church choir. She was also a member of a barbershop quartet as a member of Sweet Adelines of Des Moines.

Marshall Jr. was killed in action in March 1966 in Viet Nam leaving his widow Janet Holt, now Shura and two children. Marshall Sr. passed away November 1974 at age 63 after 42 years of marriage.

Alice married John (Jack) Bryan March 10th 1976 and had a brief but happy marriage until his passing.

Alice moved to St. Cloud to be near Stephen and Pamela Holt and family in 1980.

During the cold winters, Alice drove down to Jaksonville, Florida to spend the winter. While living there she was a member of the Riverside Avenue Christian Church, where she had many friends; she continued this until age 84.

During all of these years she had a second life as a summer resident in the Park Rapids/Hubbard area. Her father purchased land on Long Lake in 1922 and built a cabin. The entire family traveled there and spent most of each summer together. At that time, the trip, in their Stanley Steamer, took several days and they would camp along the way on friend's farms. Alice and her sisters Betty and Barbara played with the Hubbard softball team on Hubbard's softball field. Alice's sisters and brother and their spouses, Betty and Floyd Bash, Barbara and George Curtis, Helen and Sam Zibit and her brother John and Dorothy Tam each purchased their own property around Long Lake, with John and Dorothy owning the original family cabin. Alice and Marshall purchased their own cabin on Long Lake in 1954.

In 1984 Alice moved to her summer home where she lived near Stephen and Pamela and family. Pamela Holt cared for Alice increasingly for the following 24 years until her death. During that time Alice was a member of the Magnetos; the ladies arm of the Antique Tractor Club. She was an active member of the United Methodist Church in Hubbard where she loved to sing in the choir with her sisters Betty and Helen. She attended Faith Missionary Circle of Faith Baptist Church along with Pamela. Alice was a volunteer with the St. Joseph Hospital Auxiliary where she served in the gift shop.

She was proceeded in death by her parents and her brother John Tam and his wife, Dorothy Tam and their daughter Jody Tam Osbrink, her niece Judy Curtis, her brother-in-law George Curtis and her nephew Brian Bash and her brother-in-law Floyd Bash; her husband Marshall Holt Sr., her son Marshall Holt Jr. and her 2nd husband Jack Bryan.

She is survived by her sisters Betty Bash, Barbara Curtis and Helen and Sam Zibit, as well as her son Stephen and Pamela Holt as well as Greg and Janet (Holt) Shura. Alice had four grandchildren and nine great grandchildren. All were blessed to know her.