Douglas Alan Holmberg

Douglas Alan Holmberg, 70, passed away unexpectedly on Friday, March 28 at his home in Prospect, KY. He was an entrepreneur, master woodworker and furniture builder, gardener, loyal brother and friend, and a devoted husband, father and grandfather.

Doug was born in Oak Ridge, the product of two Manhattan Project workers; his scientist father, Robert Holmberg, and his mother Reba Justice Holmberg, an accomplished homemaker and gardener. They instilled in him a sense of adventure and a love of nature. He spent many nights camping and backpacking with his family and many days on his grandparents' farm. Foreshadowing his career, Doug and his dad planted hundreds of Christmas tree seedlings there as a small business endeavor.

A 1973 graduate of Oak Ridge High School, Doug played basketball and ran cross country. As a teenager, he became one of the fastest to run/hike the 72 miles of the Appalachian Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. After graduating from the University of Tennessee he launched his career as an exporter/importer of fine hardwoods and lumber. He was a Sales Manager for AB Bohmans and the DLH group, Scandinavian based import/exporters of veneer and lumber. He was founder and president of Holmberg Forest Products with international and US customers. Many of his fine veneers and burlwoods found their way into the inlays of furniture produced by renowned manufacturers and onto the dashboards of luxury cars.

Early in his career, Doug lived in North Carolina, Michigan and Oregon. After a move to Louisville,KY he met his life partner, the former Mary Mackson, and they married there in 1989. Doug and Mary bought and remodeled a home in Prospect surrounded by Doug’s gardens and there they raised two accomplished daughters and recently became grandparents to two granddaughters.

Doug saw the world as full of endless possibilities. Alongside Mary, they turned many of these possibilities into realities. He constantly encouraged Mary to reach for new opportunities, giving her the positivity and strength to just “go out and do it.” Mary will cherish the memory of Doug encouraging her to further her professional career, try snow skiing for the first time, and travel to places she had never been. His love and devotion made her the person she is today.

Doug’s love for his daughters was unwavering. His girls meant the world to him. Joining them on their many adventures and guiding them to become strong, independent women was one of his greatest achievements. His boundless love for his granddaughters included taking them for rides on his vintage tractor, making them laugh, and introducing them to the bounties from his garden.

He had a remarkable ability to turn strangers into friends, connecting with everyone he met. He was a giver of great toasts and teller of entertaining stories. Equally at home in the kitchen, he enjoyed baking biscuits from scratch and mixing drinks for his lucky guests. He had been an attentive and loving son to his parents, traveling frequently to Oak Ridge to visit and support them.

Doug loved golf, the tug of Tennessee/Kentucky sports rivalries and walking with his dogs on the family farm in Oliver Springs, TN. The family had just gathered there in October to celebrate his 70th birthday. Mary and Doug were on the verge of enjoying their retirement years together and were helping to plan a daughter’s upcoming wedding. He was happily in the process of crafting woodworking gifts for her wedding guests.

Doug is survived and deeply missed by his loving wife of 35 years, Mary, his daughters Emily Jedlicka (John) of St. Louis, MO and Claire Holmberg (fiancé Connor Kastenbaum) of Brooklyn, NY and his cherished granddaughters Alice and Ruby Jedlicka. He also leaves behind his sisters Nancy Harrison, of Oak Ridge and Connie Fagre (Nathan) of Middleton, WI and his brother Eric Holmberg (Jenny) of Bluffton, SC, as well as many nieces, nephews, cousins and lifelong friends. He was predeceased by his parents, Reba and Bob Holmberg and his parents-in-law, Ellen and George Mackson.

A memorial Mass will be held on Friday, April 25th, at St. Frances of Rome Church, 2119 Payne St, Louisville, at 11am.

In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to Friends of the Smokies at https://friendsofthesmokies.org/honor-or-remember-a-loved-one/