Sister Patricia T. Holland Remembered as ‘an Elect Lady’ During Funeral Services

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As family and friends joined with leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to pay tribute at her funeral service Friday, July 28, Sister Patricia T. Holland was remembered as a loving wife and mother, one who loves Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and, in the words President Russell M. Nelson, “one of a kind — truly an elect lady.”

As the concluding speaker at the service held in the Conference Center Theater in Salt Lake City, the President of the Church acknowledged Sister Holland’s multi-faceted service and example — as wife of Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, a former counselor in the Young Women general presidency and “first lady” at Brigham Young University while her husband served as president.

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“She occupies a unique position in our Latter-day Saint history,” said President Nelson, linking her with Emma Smith and Eliza R. Snow as those who have been married to a prophet, seer and revelator and have served as a general officer of the Church.

"Sister Holland thus occupies a most unique position in the annals of the Church’s history,” he said. “Her remarkable influence upon literally millions of women and men cannot be overestimated.”

Born February 16, 1942, in Enterprise, Utah, to Maeser W. and Marilla Terry, Sister Holland — the mother of three, grandmother of 13 and great-grandmother of five — will be remembered for her faith-filled life defined by dedication, service and testimony. She died Thursday, July 20, at the age of 81.

Following Friday’s service, Sister Holland will be buried in St. George, Utah, on Saturday, July 29.

Read more in the Church News Holland family gathers for interment of Sister Patricia Terry Holland

The 850-seat theater was filled to capacity, with overflow spreading to other areas of the Conference Center. The service was broadcast via livestream on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.

The funeral was attended by members of the Church’s First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as well as other general authorities and officers, members of the Holland family, and numerous friends .

Also speaking at Friday’s hour-long service were her three children — David F. Holland, Mary Alice Holland McCann and Elder Matthew S. Holland, a General Authority Seventy. The latter also read a message from his father and Sister Holland’s husband.

“This is the 60th year of my marriage to the greatest woman I have ever known,” wrote Elder Jeffrey R. Holland in his shared remarks. “I am heartbroken. … This loss of Pat so unexpectedly has been devastating. I feel the sustaining power of your prayers and am grateful.”

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He later added: “She was everything a companion could be in this world, and I thank God that we will have each other in the next.”

That was just one of many moments when messages focused on Heavenly Father’s plan of salvation, the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how Sister Holland lived an exemplary life in harmony with principles and covenants that lead to eternal life.

“Sister Patricia Holland is exactly what a celestial woman looks like,” President Nelson said. “We weep today for the passing of one so beloved by her family — and that family is the whole population of the world, really. However, we rejoice because of the celestial life she lived.”

The Prophet called death a “step” and a “gateway along the path of eternal progress,” adding that Sister Holland’s resurrection is certain and that eternal life lies ahead.

“Death is both a necessity and a blessing,” he said. “God’s great plan of happiness requires that each of us pass through that gateway. Sister Holland’s righteous spirit is now born again into the paradise of God. She continues on her path to eternal life.”

The most important date in her life, President Nelson said, is not her birth date nor her death date, but rather June 7, 1963, when the Hollands were sealed in the St. George Utah Temple. “The very reason the earth was created so families could be formed and sealed to each other. Salvation is an individual matter, but exaltation is a family matter. No one can be exalted alone.”

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Because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and her life as a devout covenant-keeping woman, Sister Holland has a glorious future, President Nelson said. “Under God’s great plan of happiness, she can be perfected in Christ. Patricia will regain the union of her body and her spirit, the vigor of her youth, and achieve her full radiance of celestial glory in her perfected state.”

In their messages, Sister Holland’s three children offered a long list of her traits and talents, with Elder Matthew Holland saying “it is impossible to think about my mother without thinking about her love of the Lord and His holy word.”

Mary Alice Holland McCann said of her mother’s gift for teaching the gospel: “Part of that gift was that when we were hurting and reached for her, she comforted us and then led us to the Savior while she gently stepped out of the way so that we could find our comfort in Him.”

And David F. Holland spoke of being “nurtured at the feet of a disciple of Christ who taught us from our earliest memories to recognize God as our Father and our Friend, a Being worthy of our complete trust and deserving of our deepest devotions.”

“My mother knew the restored gospel,” David F. Holland said. “She resolutely sustained living prophets, including a commitment to my father’s ministry, in support of which she gave her every full measure.”

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She also knew of and had a deep understanding and testimony of the plan of salvation, of Heavenly Father, of the Savior Jesus Christ. “We do not doubt that our mother knew it,” he said. “She lived her life according to this knowledge, and her legacy will lastingly call on us to do likewise.”

Sister Holland’s own words were used at her funeral.

In teachings quoted by her daughter, Sister Holland said: “Christ’s compassionate Atonement is more powerful than even a mother’s love. He has engraven us on the palms of His hands, and those marks make certain that He will never forget us. I bear my witness that He will never forget us.”

And Elder Matthew S. Holland cited his mother speaking about a lengthy hospitalization in 2015 as she battled a near-fatal lung condition. “I wanted Jeff and his priesthood to be with me constantly,” she said. “Because he couldn’t always be at my side, I wanted the next best thing. I wanted my Book of Mormon in my hands, holding it. And when I slept, I wanted it under my pillow. … I knew if I did live, it would be because of the blessings and the truths I’ve studied so many times in this gospel that the Book of Mormon teaches.”

The Hollands’ eldest son acknowledged Sister Holland lived eight more years after that severe health crisis, thanking God for the “precious additional time” to bask in her love and the light of her goodness.

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“So, what do we do now?” he asked. “We follow her lead. It is time to trust, as she always trusted, in the goodness and the timing of God, and turn, as she always turned, to the power and direction of His word.”

In his shared remarks, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland closed with his testimony of the living Christ. “Because of His atoning victory with its attending sealing power, there is no end to the love that Pat and I have shared, a love that has made our home feel like heaven and will someday make heaven feel like home.”