Monte W. Holland was born in his family’s farmhouse in a small Northern New York community, Dekalb Junction. When he was a young teenager, the family moved into the “big city” of Gouverneur, New York. While living there, Monte wrestled a Gouverneur High School. He earned money by delivering newspapers and shoveling snow for the neighbors.
He graduated from Union College before receiving his Ph. D. in physics from Northwestern University in Chicago. He taught at the State University of New York for six years, and Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania for thirteen years.
On September 3, 1966, he married Carolyn Cornell, who was, at the time, a non-traditional student at the University. They had two children, Sandra and Nolan.
In 1982, the family moved to Stone Mountain, Georgia, where Monte attended Candler School of Theology at Emory University. Upon gradustion, he served as pasor of Emmanual United Methodist Church in New Castle; both Jamestown and State Line United Methodist Churches in Jamestown, and finally, Wesley United Methodist Church in Connellsville—all towns in Pennsylvania.
He retired from the ministry in July 2003, and lives in the small community of Laurel Mountain Borough (outside Ligonier, PA) with Carolyn, and next door to his daughter. He is a member of the borough council, and occasionally preaches.
