David Holland

After a long illness David Chaison Holland of Houston and Beaumont died on August 7, 2021.  He was born in Houston on September 9, 1942, the son of Claude Elery and Eloise Chaison Holland, but had only been there a few months when his father went into the Navy and his mother moved back to Beaumont to her parents’ home.   Ancestors on both sides had been here or nearby since before the Civil War; one of them was Jean-Baptiste Chaison, the Revolutionary War veteran buried in the old Jirou cemetery.

In 1960 he graduated from Beaumont High School, where he played drums in the Royal Purple Band and in classmate Johnny Winter’s pickup group.  Then he went, without even considering any other place, to UT Austin, where he zeroed in on his career right away and earned a BBA in Accounting with highest honors; in fact, he was invited to teach there for a year after he graduated.   After getting a Master’s in Accounting from the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, where in those pre-cyberworld days he and his Texas roommate drove around on back roads to try to pick up UT games on the radio, he came back to Austin to study law at U.T., where he got a J.D. with honors in 1968.   Again, he distinguished himself, this time by becoming Associate Editor of the Law Review and being invited to join a basket of honor societies.  And he aced the CPA exam enough to get a national prize.

He went back to Houston after graduating and after a spell with Baker Botts formed his own practice in a small partnership, after which he went on alone to have a long and distinguished career as a tax attorney and estate planner.  He was also an Adjunct Professor of Law at UH for a year.

Outside the office and classroom David never slowed down either. In his younger days he won Sports Car Club of America races in two different classes, sedan in an Alfa Romeo Guilietta and what was then Formula S2 in a Lola 2000.  He never entirely gave up being a gearhead and his MG, which he had kept since the late sixties, still runs.

He loved travel, and had passport stamps from Europe, the Caribbean, Argentina, and South Africa.  He enjoyed cooking and wine tasting, belonged to the International Wine and Food society, and was the designated chef and carver at a lot of turkey dinner holidays.   He grew up with cameras by way of his shutterbug father and loved taking pictures.  He was good to the point that he was appreciated by professionals, some of whom became close friends. His burnt orange blood never faded, and he was a fixture in his season ticket seats at Memorial Stadium.  He logged more miles between Houston and Austin over the years than a lot of truck drivers.

Still, even though his legal address was Houston, and in spite of all the distance he covered, David was always grounded in Jefferson County. He loved being on the family rice farm south of town and he and Laura got out of the big city hassle as much as they could to go over to the double wide that they had installed there.  He was an accomplished hunter and a longtime member of the Golden Triangle Gun Club, but when his health no longer let him pull triggers, he found great peace just being there.

His family are fondly thankful for the kindness he received in his last months from his caregivers LaDonna Williams and Amie Robinson. They also want to express their gratitude to DreamCare assisted living and Vantage Hospice.

In 2008 he married his loving wife Laura Cullinan Holland, who survives him.  He also leaves behind his daughters from a previous marriage Eloise Holland of Atlanta, Georgia, and Elizabeth Holland of Easthampton, Massachusetts, along with their children; his son David C. Holland Jr. of Austin; and his brother, James E. Holland, of Houston.

The burial of Mr. Holland’s cremated body will be 2:00 p.m., Monday, November 15, 2021, at Magnolia Cemetery, 2291 Pine Street, Beaumont, under the direction of Broussard’s, 2000 McFaddin Avenue, Beaumont.