A life's purpose -- to matter

Few people have made such a difference in so many lives in so quiet a way as Bill and Leah Hole. This site is a tribute to them, to honor their lives and to provide a place for family and friends to share memories.

The Life of Leah, Part I

Leah on Barber ranch

Five Duff siblings

Andrew Duff and Marie Smith

Leah Hole was born in Shoshone, Idaho, on Dec. 2, 1917.
Leah was the daughter of Andrew Duff and Marie Smith Duff. There were eight children born to the marriage, but only five survived childhood: Alan, Rachel, Jean, Leah, and Sheila.
Both parents taught school in and around the Shoshone area; they moved to Twin Falls, then to Kimberly, back to Twin Falls, and evetually to Barber, a small town east of Boise. The family bought a dry-land farm which Andrew tended while Marie taught school . She stayed in Boise to work and in between jobs worked as a domestic, cooking and cleaning for families and construction crews.
The marriage began to fail so Marie took Leah and Sheila to Gooding, Idaho, where she taught school. The girls would return to the ranch during summers.
Marie returned in Boise in 1925 to continue teaching and she and Andrew were divorced in 1928. Because divorced women were deemed not suitable to teach school , the divorce was kept secret. However, for a while Marie could not teach in the Boise area.
Marie took Sheila to Round Valley so she could teach for a year, leaving Rachel, Jean, and Leah to board in Boise for school, returning to the ranch on weekends. By 16 years of age Rachel was the head of household, working in a box mill to help support the family while she was also in school. Eventually Marie secured a job in Boise that lasted until 1930. Rachel went to nursing school, Alan joined the Navy and Jean and Leah remained at the ranch. Marie found work in Lewiston, Idaho, and took Sheila with her.
For the next several years Marie moved around as jobs became available, with Leah and Sheila in tow. A list of towns, many ghost towns, were home for a short while: Sam (near Grand Coulee dam), Baird (near Coulee city), Withrow, Crosby (near Holly, where Leah met William), and finally Kelly Lake (in Pierce County). Leah actually graduated from high school twice: in 1936 from correspondence school and in 1939 as valedictorian of Withrow High School.

The Life of Leah, Part II

Making a living during the Depression was not easy and Leah had a very difficult time as a teenage girl. She was diagnosed with a bone marrow infection, osteomyletis, and was in and out of hospitals for extended periods of time. The infection subsided and reoccured many times until the advent of penicillin, although not before Leah endured numerous operations, leaving her with a frozen ankle and scarred legs.
She was living in Holly when she met Maurice Hole and his cousin, Cyp Wyatt -- according to family lore Leah was hitchhiking with a friend when she met the two men. She actually dated Cyp first but once her sister Sheila met him, it wasn't long before Cyp was Sheila's and Leah began dating Maurice.
She aways said she got the better end of the bargain.
Leah moved to south Seattle and lived with her sister Rachel so she could be near Maurice, who was attending school and working.
In 1940, they were married.

Sonny, William, Bill, Maurice....? Part I

Maurice on left

Wilfred Hole

William Maurice Hole was born in Holly, Washington -- which is south of Bremerton about 30 miles, on Hood Canal -- June 23, 1916

His parents were Wilfred Hole and Grace Wyatt, both of Holly. He was the youngest of four children (one child did not live to adulthood): Edna, Eva, Helen, and Sonny, as his family called him. The community knew him as Bill or Maurice.

Wilfred had traveled to the Methow Valley when he was a teenager to help his brother, who grew peaches and apples up McFarland Creek. The trip was long as Wilfred went via the Hood Canal steamer to Seattle, then via train to Wenatchee, and finally by steamer to Pateros. Wildfred was a logger, fisherman, and did some farming. But his trip to Methow stuck with him and after he and Grace were married they returned.

Bill's parents purchased an apple orchard about a mile below Methow, as well as a farm near Holly. They lived in Holly during the winter and returned to Methow during the spring. The trip was memorable for them as they drove each spring in their Model T truck, via Portland, up the gorge to Patterson, across the Horse Heaven Hills to Prosser, then through Yakima , Ellensburg, Blewett Pass, and finally to Methow. It was a nearly 500-mile trip.

Bill then Maurice -- Part II

In 1932 when Bill was 15, his father was killed. Following his father's death, Bill and his mother stayed at the orchard while Bill -- who had to quit school -- farmed it. After two years they returned to Holly. Bill worked at various jobs while farming. Logging with his brother-in-law Joe was one of his favorites. There were no chainsaws in those days, it was done with cross cut saws and axes. Until his death, one of his favorite possessions was the special falling ax that he retained from those times. It was kept sharp enough to shave with and the handle well-oiled throughout the years.
Bill's fascination with all things mechanical began at an early age and he saved up enough money to go to school in Los Angeles to become an aircraft mechanic. Upon his graduation he returned to his mother in Holly for a short time, then met Leah. When he got a job at Boeing he and his mother moved to Seattle; Leah followed, living with her sister. Bill continued his education, attending Edison Tech at night to become a lathe operator and machinist.

Bill and Leah were married in 1940.

The Methow years

Four children were born to the marriage (one died at birth): Merrilyn, Diane, and Keith.
After WWII Bill and Leah moved to the Redmond area where they purchased a service station/garage; the business lasted several years. Leah's mother lived with them, as well as Bill's mother Grace, who ran the service station.
Neither Bill or Leah would talk much about these years, so their children assumed the two grandmothers did not get along well.
Following the business closure Bill started working at various saw mills and become a millwright. During this time they took in several nephews from Leah's sisters when the husbands were changing jobs or during military transfers.
In 1954, they sold the Redmond place and returned to Methow. Leah was not happy about the move initially. Leah's mother Marie joined them there a short time later and stayed in a small cabin on the farm. Marie loved her small house and lived there until shortly before her death.
Leah's oldest sister Rachel's husband died in 1955 and beginning at that time Leah and Bill took in nephews and nieces during the summers. There was no such thing as daycare in those days, even if Rachel could have afforded it. At one point, there were eight nephews and nieces living on the farm. Milk cows were a necessity, as well as a huge garden. The huge garden also had berries that were picked and traded at the local grocery stores. Milk and cream were sold as well. The orchard did not really begin paying until the early 1960s. The milk cows were sold when the children left home.
Bill worked in Twisp as a mechanic for several years during the lean times, and their proudest day came in 1965 when they payed off the farm. It was a good thing too, because in 1968 a winter freeze killed most of the trees. Bill and Leah replanted most of the trees and returned to working outside the home; a new milk cow was purchased as well! By the late 1970s the orchard had recovered and they became full-time orchardists again; the milk cow died and was not replaced.

A life lived well -- Part II

They loved their farm but we children do believe they farmed so Dad could have time to work on his cars. Mom joined in as well doing the upholstery work, and she loved them just as much as he did. Though difficult at times, they had a wonderful life and truly loved and respected one another. Leah felt that Bill was one of the most intelligent people she had ever met and Bill felt the same about her. Leah had just recently told her children that Bill made all the major decisions; Bill had said before he died that Leah was one of the most quietly stubborn women he had ever known and they had a lot of discussion before any decision was made.
The children never saw them argue.
They were raised to not only work but enjoy life as well. Bill and Leah were frugal and chose to make do and do most of the orchard work even when they could afford to hire out. During one of the orchard's last years Leah and her sister Jean, both in their late 60s, picked 10 bins of apples in one 8-hour shift.Bill and Leah valued committment to family, independence, education, and a love of reading, which they passed into their children and anyone who stayed with them.
They are missed, with love.