| The Daily Times-Gazette (Oshawa) | November 3, 1954 |
One of the best-known, best-liked and revered citizens of Whitby, William Albert Holliday, Byron Street North, died this morning in Oshawa General Hospital in his 89th year.
He was predeceased by his wife, the late Mary Ellen Harrison and is survived by one daughter Dorothy, at home and one son Douglas of North Bay.
Mr. Holliday is resting at the W. C. Town Funeral Chapel, Whitby for service Friday, November 5 at two o'clock. Burial will be in Mount Lawn Cemetery. Friends are requested not to call at the chapel until Thursday afternoon.
For years a well known merchant in Brooklin and then Whitby, Mr. Holliday continuously played an important part in community life.
Mr. Holliday's business career began in Brooklin when he was 20 years of age and his father was operator of a general store. Three years later, the sudden death of his father, the late Thomas Holliday, left him in charge of this business which he continued with success for the next 23 years. From 1914 to 1926, he lived in Toronto, but then returned to Whitby to purchase a hardware business in which W. F. MacCarl was associated--the same store that is MacCarl's Hardware today.
Though leading a business life Mr. Holliday had some time for limited participation in politics and public affairs. For one year he was president of the South Ontario Liberal Association. In Brooklin for ten years he was treasurer of the Township of Whitby.
Outstanding have been his contributions to church affairs and temperance work. For 12 years he was superintendent of Brooklin Presbyterian Sunday School and held offices in other Christian groups. When the Brooklin Council of Royal Templars was organized in 1883, he was the youngest charter member and in this connection has continued ever since in the Foresters which absorbed the Templars.
Mr. Holliday was a native of Coboconk, eldest of four sons of the late Elizabeth Nisbet Holliday and Thomas Jackson Holliday. He was born March 27, 1866.
During his latter days in Whitby he was an active and faithful member of Whitby United Church and a member of the sessions.