Patricia Holland, wife of Jeffrey R. Holland, dies at 81

SALT LAKE CITY — Patricia Terry Holland, wife of Jeffrey R. Holland who is an Apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has died. She was 81.

Patricia Holland “passed away peacefully on July 20, 2023 after a brief hospitalization,” a release from the Church said.

Sister Holland was born February 16, 1942, and grew up on a farm in Enterprise in southern Utah.

She moved to St. George at the beginning of High School and attended Dixie High where she met her future husband, Jeffrey Holland.

The two began to date and wrote during Elder Holland’s mission to England. They were married on June 7, 1963 in the St. George Temple following a five-year courtship.

The pair have three children, Matthew, Mary Alice and David, and thirteen grandchildren.

Sister Holland attended LDS Business College, now called Ensign College,  and graduated from Dixie College, now Utah Tech University. She was trained by instructors from Julliard in both piano and voice.

She worked for the Church Educational System to support her husband while he attended Brigham Young University and later Yale University.

Elder Holland was called to be the president of Brigham Young University in 1980, and served in that capacity until 1989.

Sister Holland was called as a former counselor in the Young Women General Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1984.

A release from the Church states,

“Pat’s faith in Jesus Christ blessed the entire Church. At a worldwide devotional for young adults earlier this year — broadcast from her native St. George, Utah — she offered young adults a simple approach to the religious life: “Please have faith in God, hope that He will help you, and receive the charity that enables Him to work through you to accomplish what only you can do.”

Funeral arrangements are pending, and will be announced at a later date.

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