Jerry Holley

Jerry Holley, age 71, of Topeka, passed away Aug. 30, 2010 at a Topeka hospital. Jerry was born in the heart of the Missouri Ozarks in Warsaw, Missouri, on October 30, 1938. He grew up in Pleasant Hill, Missouri, a small town just to the south of Kansas City, Missouri. He attended Pleasant Hill Elementary and High Schools. He holds a BA Degree in Communications and Business from Baker University in Baldwin City, Kansas. Jerry’s professional career as a broadcaster began early in his life. Throughout his high school and college years, Jerry was employed by KMBC-TV in Kansas City, Missouri, KMOS-TV, Sedalia, Missouri, KOFO Radio, Ottawa, Kansas, and KLWN Radio, Lawrence, Kansas, and during his college years he built and operated a wired-wireless campus radio station at Baker University. The station has since become an FM Educational Station. Jerry joined the WIBW Stations in June of 1960 as a television booth announcer. In 1961, he became Promotion Manager of WIBW-TV. In 1962 he assumed the position of General Manager of the Stauffer Communications Station, KSEK Radio in Pittsburg, Kansas. In 1964 he returned to Topeka to manage WIBW AM/FM and in 1969 became General Manager of WIBW-TV. On May 20, 1977, he was elected, by the Board of Directors of Stauffer Communications Inc., to the position of Vice-President-Broadcast Division for the company. Jerry served on the Board of the Kansas Association of Broadcasters for fifteen years and served as President of the association in 1973-74. Jerry is one of five persons who founded the All-American Network and served for three years as its president. The network produced and televised the Triple Crown of Quarter Horse Racing for eight years to millions of fans coast to coast. In 1983, he was elected to the Chairmanship of the Television Board of Directors of the National Association of Broadcasters, Washington D.C. and was re-elected in 1984 for a second term. In 1982, Jerry received the “Grover Cobb Award” from the University of Kansas for outstanding broadcasting service and received the Distinguished Service Award from the Kansas Association of Broadcasters. He was awarded the Alumni Citation from Baker University in 1985 for his outstanding service to his Alma Mater in his chosen field of Broadcasting. In 2001 he was named to the Kansas Broadcast “Hall of Fame”. A devoted Topekan and Kansan Jerry served as part of civic organizations in Topeka and throughout the state of Kansas for his entire adult life. Just a few of the capacities in which he served his community include: Chairman of Board of Trustees of Baker University; Chairman of the MTAA Board; President of the Downtown Topeka Rotary Club; Vice-Chairman of the Kidney Foundation of Kansas and Western Missouri; Adjunct Professor of Broadcasting at Washburn University; and Secretary of the Kansas High School Rodeo Association. Jerry also had a long time association with the 190th Air Refueling Group; a Topeka based Air National Guard Unit. He produced television news programs covering the units deployments to Japan and Korea and in 1990 traveled with the 190th to Saudi Arabia to report on the 1991 Gulf War. Following his retirement from broadcasting Jerry became a Radio-Television inspector for the Federal Communications Commission, served as the Executive Director of the Combat Air Museum at Forbes Field in Topeka, as the Executive Director of the Central Regional Dental Testing Service and at the time of his death was Assistant Adjutant with the Kansas Department of the American Legion. He also established the Holley Museum of Military History located at the Ramada Hotel and convention Center in downtown Topeka. The Museum contains his personal collection of over four thousand items and displays of military history from the Battle of Trafalgar to the War for Iraqi Freedom in 2003. Survivors include his wife Jane, Topeka; his daughter, Pamela (Holley) Heinonen and her husband Kevin and children Michael and Eric; his son, CDR Mark Holley, USN and his wife Pia and children Emma and Annie and his mother Beulah Holley, Pleasant Hill MO. Family will greet friends Thurs. at Kevin Brennan Family Funeral Home, 2801 SW Urish Rd, Topeka KS 66614 from 5-7 p.m. A Memorial Service will be Fri. at 1 p.m. at Grace Cathedral. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Baker University sent to the funeral home.

Jerry Holley

October 30, 1938 - September 2, 2010