Obituary: Sterling “Bud” Holway – CentralMaine.com

WINTHROP – Sterling “Bud” Holway passed away Sept. 20, 2022, at the age of 94, quietly at his home in East Winthrop.

Bud was born on April 12, 1928, in Yarmouth to Marjorie Sterling Holway and William Crocker Holway. In Yarmouth, he excelled in sports and developed a love for hunting, fishing, and the outdoors. In 1946, at 18 years old, he joined the Infantry Heavy Weapons Company, U.S. Army, where he held various positions including gunnery instructor, truck driver, and athletic instructor. He rose to the rank of staff sergeant and was honorably discharged in 1948.

Upon his discharge he enrolled at the University of Maine at Orono and was a member of Kappa Sigma Fraternity. After graduating with a degree in civil engineering (aspirations to become game warden were thwarted because Latin didn’t sit well with Bud) he was hired by Solvay Process, a division of Allied Chemical, as territory salesman in the state of Maine.

While calling on various state, county and highway road departments, Bud’s successful sales record resulted in recognition as a top producer, thus while concurrently acting as president of the Maine Good Roads Association, assisting this organization’s rise to prominence. His sales performance and leadership garnered a promotion to assistant sales manager of the Syracuse, N.Y. branch office; and on the fast track, in 18 months he became sales manager of a new branch in northwest headquarters of Seattle, Wash., followed one year later by another promotion to the Southeast office in Atlanta, Ga. Finally, Bud was asked to take on the largest and busiest sales organization, the northeast, based in Saddle Brook, N.J. There, he turned the struggling organization around, increasing productivity, sales, and profits.

Regarding his passions, he was no stranger to wing shooting and guns in general, but his real mastery was in handling a fly rod. He always caught the first, biggest and most brook trout no matter who he was fishing with. For years, he was addressed as “The Dean of the Dead” (North branch of the Dead River) where he belonged to a fishing camp, Shadagee Falls Club, which has been in the family since the ’30s. He was a registered Maine guide and a licensed pilot. He loved to fish and explore in his float-equipped PA18 Super Cub, making several trips to Labrador and other remote spots to fish and hunt.

Bud loved cribbage and was excellent at the game, forming many lifelong friendships while engaging his opponents. His children and grandchildren will not forget the legacy he gifted them in his skill and love for the game.

After retiring, Bud and his wife Joan split their time between Florida and Maine until the trip up and down Interstate 95 became too much. They sold the Florida property, winterized the “camp” in Maine, and made it their year-round residence. Joan, his loving and devoted wife, passed in 2014. Since then, Bud did his best to host the numerous visitors to the lake house as they arrived in throngs, especially in the summer. He will be missed by his loving family, caretakers, and friends.

He is survived by five children, Scott Holway, Steve Holway and wife Debbie, Kit Bednar, Matt Holway and wife Anne, Greg Holway and wife Bonnie; 15 grandchildren; and 37 great-grandchildren.

Bud’s memorial service will be in the Roberts Funeral Home, 62 Bowdoin St., Winthrop on Tuesday, Sept. 27 at 12:30 p.m. Interment will follow in the Chapel at the Maine Veterans Memorial Cemetery, Mount Vernon Road, Augusta at 2 p.m. with military honors. Relatives and friends are respectfully invited.

Arrangements are in the care of the Roberts Funeral Home, 62 Bowdoin St., Winthrop, where condolences, memories, and photos may be shared with the family on the obituary page of the website at http://www.khrfuneralhomes.com.