THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 26, 1996 TAG: 9605250135
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY CAROLE O'KEEFFE, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: 133 lines
W. Dan Holly Jr. has lived what he calls the American Dream.
Born poor, he has retired - wealthy - at age 55. Love and good health, he says, are among his treasures.
Holly started his own business from his Sadler Heights home at age 27, with his wife as bookkeeper. He owned one garbage truck, under which he spent many nights making repairs for the next early-morning run. The young couple had one baby, another on the way.
When he sold the family business last fall, there were about 80 employees in three states. His equipment inventory topped 100 pieces.
His sons left the immediate area to go with the new business. ``It was hard friends. We are very, very close.''
Betty Holly added, ``Even though I might not see them all that often, psychologically I knew they were here in Suffolk.''
A garbage-collection business that their father had entered by a fluke had diversified to offering rental portable toilets, highway construction equipment and signs and demolition, recycling, and, at one time, landscaping services in Virginia, North Carolina and Alabama.
While the family had no thoughts of selling, in the end, Waste Management ``wanted our business more than we did,'' Dan Holly said. ``It was a good business decision,'' Holly said in their comfortable Russell Point home. ``But it was an emotional one.''
Some employees, with him almost since the beginning, took jobs with the new company. Sons Danny and Chris joined Waste Management in executive positions.
Danny Holly III, 31, is division president of Waste Management in Richmond. Chris, 27, is Waste Management sales manager, based in Northern Virginia.
The business was like a ``good apple tree,'' Holly said. ``Every apple was perfectly ripe. They wanted to buy it.''
Neither Holly nor his wife attended college, but they made sure their children did. When his football-playing sons returned from college, they worked with their dad. Betty Holly worked with her husband full-time until a couple of years ago, when they both began slowing down some and leaving more and more of the day-to-day management to their sons.
Holly began working hard as a boy, for about 10 years delivering groceries on his bike to make money for his family. ``We never had any extras,'' he said. ``I wanted something in life.''
Before getting into the trash collection business, Holly had worked for Harrell Electric in Suffolk. He later became a first class electrician at Newport News Shipbuilding. He was working at Norfolk Naval Shipyard as an electrician when a friend told him about the availability of a trash hauling business.
His wife half-jokingly calls him a workaholic. He's up before the sun, as always. Betty spends her days ``trying to keep up with him.''
Among activities since his unexpected retirement:
Building a hunting lodge for his expanding family. Chris and his wife recently had a baby.
Hunting, fishing and playing golf.
Developing a plan to maybe turn his 20-year hobby of collecting vintage Mustangs into a business.
Dan Holly's family lacked in material possessions when he was growing up, but he says he learned a good work ethic from his father. ``Get up and go to work, and be there on time.''
Son Chris said, ``One of the biggest things they both have taught me is the value of a dollar. We didn't do without what we needed, but what we wanted? You had to work for what you wanted. They said, `If you want it, you can have it, but you got to work for it.' ''
Dan's closeness to the Lord has also given him strength to succeed, he said. Betty agrees.
She and her husband-to-be met when she was 15 years old. They dated for five years before marrying. ``He was a very handsome young fella,'' she said. ``He still is.''
His success has also come from lots of footwork and creative thinking. When he noticed that convenience gas/food stores were getting rid of massive amounts of cardboard, he installed cardboard recycling bins for them.
Not long after the merger of Nansemond and Suffolk, Holly bid on a portion of the new and huge city's garbage collection service. He shared that job with two other vendors. Holly was the only vendor in 1990, collecting from 14,000 Suffolk homes, up from 3,000 at the beginning of his contract.
``Through the bid process, he became low bidder and brought all three areas under a single contract,'' Public Works Director Thomas G. Hines said. He has known Holly since 1979, when Hines joined the city work staff and Holly began his city collection contract.
``He pretty much ran his own ship, handled his own complaints. Very few complaints came across my desk as a result of his operation,'' Hines said.
``Holly recognized the need for a good strong work ethic and insisted that all of his employees follow that work ethic.''
Holly had become so diversified that when the city needed equipment - from port-a-johns and traffic cones to trash pickup and front loaders - ``he had the capability to meet all those demands,'' Hines said.
Holly also did a lot of the work on a volunteer basis, helping Peanut Fest, the annual citywide celebration of Suffolk's agricultural heritage, and summer concerts and other events closer to downtown at Constant's Wharf.
Peanut Fest had started as Harvest Fest with the Suffolk Chamber of Commerce in 1978. When Holly was chairman in 1985, he and his staff changed the name to Peanut Fest to highlight the specific reason for the celebration. During his tenure as chairman, a permanent building was erected and electricity was added to the site.
Holly and his sons were very active Chamber members over the years. Dan Holly was ``always there to help whenever we needed him, regardless of the project,'' Catherine Brinkley, new director of the chamber, said.
Thomas G. Underwood, assistant city manager for 21 years, and now the city councilman representing the Holy Neck Borough, has known Dan Holly since they were both young boys. They both attended the boys club in the old city hall.
They became reacquainted once more when Holly began his trash collection business in the former Nansemond County.
``He provided a very valuable service as a private hauler,'' Underwood said. ``The city didn't have to buy equipment or hire people to collect trash. We went from dumpsters then to door-to-door all over the city. He provided that for many years.
``He was a rather large employer in the city and certainly paid a lot of taxes,'' Underwood said, adding, ``He is a very fine man. A man of his word. He always kept it with me not only as a county and city official, but as a man. I have a great deal of respect for him.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo on cover
W. Dan Holly Jr....and wife Betty
Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Dan and Betty Holly take time to enjoy retirement with a walk in
their back yard at Lake Prince.
Staff photos by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Holly hopes to spend more time tinkering with his Mustangs, such as
this GT500. He has collected vintage convertible Mustangs for 20
years.
Betty and Dan Holly admire their granddaughter, Jordan Nicole. Their
sons have moved to Richmond, but Dan and Betty make time to see
family. by CNB