Funeral set for Oil City man who died in storms

CADDO PARISH, La. (KSLA) — Family members of an Oil City man who was killed in the severe storms Friday night and early Saturday morning spent Tuesday going through his belongings.

The Caddo Parish coroner’s office says 75-year-old Raymond Holden died when a tree fell on his house on North Kerley Avenue.

His wife also was inside the home. She made it out safely.

“Mom called in the middle of the night and was hysterical, basically because the tree had fell and she was calling Dad and he wasn’t answering,” Raymond Holden Jr. recalled.

“So she called me and told me to call 911; and I was trying to call them and I couldn’t’ get through. I finally did and they said have her call from her phone. So she called from her phone and they came out and they couldn’t get him out.”

Holden’s sons shared that he was well loved in the community.

“And when Dad retired, he came up here with her,” Holden Jr. said. "He loved the area. Caddo Lake’s here; Dad loved to fish. Has his garden here.

“So after he retired, he gardened and he fished here and waved at all the neighbors that went by,” Holden Jr. continued. “He liked to sit on the front porch and wave at them.”

He added that his father’s funeral is set for Saturday at Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church, which is located at 409 Long St. in Winnfield.

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