James Harold Holcomb

James Harold Holcomb died August 12th, 2026, at Adventist Health in Ukiah, surrounded by his family. Services will be held at Evergreen Cemetery in Boonville at 11am on September 11th, 2026, followed by a reception at the Anderson Valley Senior Center.

James was born April 25th, 1945 in Tulare, California, to Ed and Susie Holcomb. The youngest of five siblings, he and the Holcomb family soon moved to Northern California, following the work of the timber industry to Anderson Valley. James spent his childhood everywhere from Point Arena to Philo, but he called Boonville Home.

In Boonville, he met his best friend, Harold Hulbert, whose mom was a friend of his own mother’s. James was a rascal, finding swimming holes, hunting, catching frogs, causing mischief, and fishing all around the valley with his cadre of friends and his older brother, Gerald. He went to school at the Little Red Schoolhouse and Anderson Valley High, where he met his high school sweetheart and the absolute love of his life, Brenda. He spent a semester playing football for Napa Valley College before a knee injury brought him back to Anderson Valley. He and Brenda were head-over-heels crazy for each other and married on May 21st, 1965, just before she graduated high school. They celebrated their 61st wedding anniversary in 2026.

James started at Masonite in 1965 and worked his way up the ranks into management over the course of his 36 year career with the company. Having grown up quite literally dirt poor – at one point he lived in a house with dirt floors and an outhouse – he worked hard to help provide a comfortable life and a bright future for himself and his family. But no matter how much James had, he would share it with his family without hesitation. His parents instilled in him a deep sense of the importance of family and generosity; they raised his cousin Frank alongside him as one of his brothers. This spirit of kindness brought nieces, cousins, nephews, and friends to stay with him and his family over the years in Ukiah. He shared his home, his time, and his skills with the ones he loved. His family meant everything to him.

He and Brenda lived in a few different places around the Ukiah valley before they welcomed their daughter, Jami Lynn, into the world in October of 1966. After a couple moves, a couple houses, and five years later, their daughter, Tami Michelle, was born, in December of 1971. They grew families of their own, adding grandchildren and eventually great-grandchildren to the Holcomb family.

James was a loving and devoted father; he did anything and everything for his girls, and he never failed to tell them how much he loved them. He was as devoted a grandfather as he was a father, teaching his kids and grandkids alike how to fish, fix cars, hunt, dive for abalone, build a campfire, setup a tent, mow the lawn, drive a stickshift or a boat; how to navigate back to shore on a foggy day of salmon fishing; how to cast a net, collect, and clean the surf-fish to fry for dinner; how to do your own carpentry and plumbing and tile and electrical work (permits be damned! If he had the tools and a Youtube video, he would figure out how to help you). He spent his days hunting, fishing, boating, and camping with his family and friends, whom he treated as family. He will be remembered as the loving, caring, warm, and generous man that he showed himself in life to be. May his memory be a blessing.

James was preceded in death by his parents, Ed and Susie Holcomb; his siblings Annie, Eddie, and Gerald, and his cousin, Frank.

He is survived by his brother, Bill; his beloved wife of 61 years, Brenda; his daughter, Jami, and her partner, Chris; his daughter, Tami; his grandson, Jarrod, and his partner, Will; his granddaughter, Paige; his grandson, Auston, and his wife, Jonnique; his granddaughter, Madison, and her husband, Robert; his granddaughter, Mandy; and his great-grandchildren, Alexia, Louisa, Evelynn, James, and Atlas.