Letter: Holte dinners organizer bids adieu

In 1985 Marley Holte and his wife got together and instead of buying presents for one another they bought turkeys and cooked them at the community center in Hollister. Anyone that wanted to could show up for a Christmas dinner with all of the trimmings; this started a tradition that has since expanded to Thanksgiving as well. I came aboard the third year starting out in the kitchen carving up turkeys as they came out of the oven cooked whole. On our fifth year we moved to the Sacred Heart Catholic Church.
We still cooked the turkeys in the ovens but they were cut up, put into roasting pans and cooking started at 5 in the morning. We cooked several batches of turkeys in those ovens as well as dressing and mashed potatoes, all of which was prepared from scratch. I advanced from head turkey carver to cook to eventually coordinating the kitchen. Marley would always have a board of directors meeting before every event. Here we would plan out what needed to be done and by whom. At one of the meetings he asked if we would keep it going after he was no longer able to. We all agreed that we would. Shortly after that Marley passed from this earth and I took over.
The dinners have continued on and Marley would be proud of his tradition continuing on. It is at this time I wish to thank my board of directors for their giving of their time and energies. Jason Noble who was the supply sergeant getting all of the groceries before each dinner. Jerica Noble who was there making the mashed potatoes. Kim, Brad and Haley VanDam for making the dressing. John and Mike of Masmith BBQ for coming in early and cooking all of the turkeys. Kirk Tognazzini for being there and locating the stuff that was needed and keeping the coffee going. Edwardo Servin and his wife for doing the take-outs. Debra Dankel for all of the cookies and support. Ruben Lopez for making the salsa and doing the pies. Richard Guzman who was in charge of making the drinks. There is also the Sacred Heart Catholic Church and its support group for letting us use their facilities each year. Finally I want to thank my wife Darlene for her support in keeping me on track, the house cleaned up just before a board meeting and making sure there was enough coffee and munchies for the meeting. For those of you that showed up each year helping with the set-up, prepping and serving, I thank you.
Now the torch is passed on to Ruben Lopez and Edwardo Servin. I wish the best for them and many more successful Holte Holiday Dinners.
Larry E. Brown, Hollister