James B. Holter

Dr. James B. Holter, 79, of Buchanan, passed away Saturday, February 15, 2014 Jim began life on a 44 acre dairy subsistence farm near Curllsville in Monroe Township in Clarion County, Pennsylvania. He pursued an education in Dairy Science earning his PhD from Pennsylvania State University in 1963. That same year he began his teaching and research career at the University of New Hampshire. As Professor of Dairy Science at the Ritzman Agricultural Experiment Station he worked with extension, mentored twenty-one graduate students, developed the UNH Dairy Ration Balancer software, and was Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Dairy Science. He retired with 33 years of service in 1996. Outside of his professional career the most important things in his life were his family, hunting and singing. He was an advocate of hunting and gun safety education. He was a proud and productive ‘stump hunter', seeking out a carefully selected stump to sit on and watch for deer, rabbit or grouse. He sang in various choirs over sixty years. He enjoyed more than twenty years in the Durham Community Church choir, time with the Yankee Clippers barber shop quartet, and more recently he sang with the Buchanan Presbyterian Church choir. Preceding him in death were his parents, Sarah Corbett and George Holter. He leaves behind his beloved family. His wife, Vada Marie Oakley Holter; daughter and son-in-law, Melanie and Michael Ashcroft of Somerworth, NH; son and daughter-in-law, Jonathan and Lorie Holter; and grandchildren, Daniel and Eleanor Holter of Buchanan, VA; his sister, Laura Jean McKinney Kriling of Butler, PA; and several nieces and nephews. Memorial Services will be held 4pm Sunday, February 23, 2014 in the Buchanan Presbyterian Church with the Rev. Marina Gopadze officiating. Arrangements by Botetourt Funeral Home, Buchanan (540-254-3000)