The real estate community mourns the loss of Marley Holte, owner
of Crown Realty in Hollister. Marley died at Stanford Hospital last
Sunday, his son Dan at his bedside. Sure, Marley was active in the
San Benito County Association of Realtors, serving in leadership
positions for many years. He helped many clients reach their
personal and financial goals of home ownership and investment. But
far beyond that, the entire region has lost a leader of great
vision, an indefatigable fighter for the rights of all men.
The real estate community mourns the loss of Marley Holte, owner of Crown Realty in Hollister. Marley died at Stanford Hospital last Sunday, his son Dan at his bedside. Sure, Marley was active in the San Benito County Association of Realtors, serving in leadership positions for many years. He helped many clients reach their personal and financial goals of home ownership and investment. But far beyond that, the entire region has lost a leader of great vision, an indefatigable fighter for the rights of all men.
My husband, Tim, and I first met Marley when we moved down to San Benito County, so Tim could open Pinnacles School for the San Benito County Office of Education. Marley was hired as a teacher. He had such a heart for the kids, but was savvy enough to know when some young person was trying to pull the wool over his eyes. I was impressed with him then. He had a twinkle in his eye, and that eye was sharp. Nothing got past him. He was a gentle soul but possessed a wicked sense of humor and fun. But what stood out most about him was his fierce dislike of artifice and selfishness. He truly believed that all men were brothers and deserved to be treated with respect and honor.
Perhaps Marley’s greatest gift to San Benito County is Marley Holte’s Community Assistance Program. Unable to stomach bureaucracy’s inability to move quickly to meet the needs of individuals, he began organizing free Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners for the community.
If you never participated in one of these events, you’ve missed a great opportunity to discover the true meaning of these holidays. It is awesome just to see the generosity of the community as donations poured in each year for the events. My personal favorite memory is baking pumpkin pies with my daughter Ila as part of her Girl Scout troop’s efforts.
He then spearheaded the effort to create a homeless shelter in our community. Marley could be a pit bull when he wanted something accomplished. He’d latch on and woe to those who stood in his way! A diminutive man with physical limitations, he was a giant among us in matters of the heart.
Marley didn’t think there was a difference between people just because of where they were born, what color their skin was or what they believed. He was active in LULAC and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. He was part of the Juvenile Justice Commission and the Boy Scouts. He supported so many causes and people and efforts that I’m surprised he ever had time to do real estate!
It’s hard to believe we won’t see him again, his smile huge and his eyes checking out what the women are wearing (Let’s be honest here – he definitely had an eye for the ladies!). We won’t bask in the pure sunlight of his unconditional love. We won’t hear him argue and rail against whatever it was he was protecting or demanding or disparaging. But a spirit as large as his can never disappear totally. Surely his soul reaches out still, encouraging us all to be loving and generous. As the holidays approach this year, please think of Marley and reach deeper into your pockets and your hearts, and match his generosity. It’s an awesome way to thank him for his dedication.
Let us remember Marley in the words of Henry Scott Holland:
“Death is nothing at all. It does not count. I have only slipped away into the next room. Nothing has happened. Everything remains exactly as it was. I am I, and you are you, and the old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged. Whatever we were to each other, that we are still. Call me by the old familiar name. Speak of me in the easy way in which you always used. Put no difference into your tone. Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me, and pray for me. Let my name be ever the household word that it always was. Let it be spoken without an effort, without the ghost of a shadow upon it. Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was. There is absolute and unbroken continuity. What is this death but a negligible accident? Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? I am but waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere out very near, just round the corner. All is well.”
Be kind to your Realtor, and join me in a silent prayer for Marley Holte, a beloved Realtor in San Benito County.
