Carl Douglas “Dee” Holman went to be with the Lord early Sunday, October 29, 2023. He was born in Plasterco, Virginia on August 14, 1937 to Bert Roosevelt and Mary Lou Holman. The second of eight children, Carl was raised in Chilhowie, VA and entered the Air Force in 1954. He served as a radar technician for the 4631st Support Squadron in Korea from 1955-1957. He was stationed at Waverley AFB in Iowa when he met the love of his life, Georgeane Kay Hardy of Cedar Falls, IA. The two were married a few months after they met on November 23,1957, and raised two daughters, Vicky and Donna.

After his Honorable Discharge from the Air Force in 1963, Carl opened Carl’s Airline Texaco in Cedar Falls, where he served countless customers with honesty, integrity, and a sense of humor that were so characteristic of his easy-going nature.

Carl attended flight school when he wasn’t working the service station, eventually earning a pilot’s license and taking to the skies as a private pilot. He could tell a Cessna Centurion from a Skyhawk from a mile away, and spent many hours in the cockpit before turning his attention to trains.

Always handy and a hard worker, he became an electrician for the railroad and moved to Des Moines, IA before heading further south to Springfield, MO in 1978 to be closer to his favorite fishing spots. Carl worked for Burlington Northern for 28 years until his retirement in 1999. His golden years saw more time with a spinning rod or golf club in his hand, and he spent countless years as a Deacon at Springhill Baptist Church and as a volunteer for the Springfield Live Nativity pageant.

Carl was preceded in death by his parents, several siblings, and too many good friends and family to recount. He is survived by his wife of 66 years, Georgeane; daughters Vicky (Scott) Saylor and Donna (Kenny) Qualls; grandchildren April (Scott Stroud) Saylor, Dustin (Emily) Qualls, and Lauren Qualls; brothers Ronald Eugene, William Daniel (Mary), Melvin Donald (Kathy), and Bert Wayne (Pat); and numerous nieces, nephews, in-laws, family members, friends, and brothers and sisters in Christ.

Carl would’ve wanted people to know he’s spending eternity with his Lord and Savior — not because of his own deeds here on Earth, but because of his relationship with Jesus Christ.

“God loves ya.”