Father Dave Holloway was elected First Vice-President of the Civil War Round Table of Kansas City at the dinner meeting held on December 18, 2018. We asked Father Dave to tell us about himself and how he got interested in the Civil War. He graciously provided the following information:
I was bom on June 13, 1950 in Chillicothe MO (home of sliced bread). I spent some time in the summers on the farms of both grandparents near town. Dad was an electrician, eventually retiring from the old GM plant in the Leeds District of Kansas City. Mom u'as a book-keeper working for various small companies, including Wild Woodys in Independence MO.
I attended Bishop Hogan Memorial Catholic grade school and St Joseph Academy, both small parish schools in Chillicothe. I graduated from High School in 1968 and wras a member of Boy Scout Troop 121, St. Columban's Parish and the Tribe of Mic-O-Say.
I attended Rockhurst College (now University) in the fall of 1968. Studies where interrupted by the draft, somewhat of a long stoiy, and enlisted in the U.S. Navy for four years from September of 1972 to September of 1976. I was an Interior Communications Electrician Second Class (equivalent of a Sergeant). I served on two ships: USS BROWNSON DD-868, a destroyer of WWn vintage, and a Destroyer Tender (repair ship) USS SIERRA AD-18, also of WWII vintage.
After the sendee, I returned to study at Rockhurst and graduated in May of 1976 with a degree in History and Political Science. Despite my degree and thanks to my Mom's teaching, I worked as a cost accountant for a year and a half before being accepted by the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, for study as a priest. I went to St. Thomas Seminaiy in Denver CO and was ordained as a priest on June 5, 1982. I senred at St. Catherine's in south Kansas City for four years and then at Holy Cross in the Northeast section of Kansas City, for a year as an associate pastor.
In June of 1987 I entered the U.S. Navy again as a Chaplain. My assignments had me at the Marine Corps Air Station in Iwakuni, Japan; the USS WASP LHD-1, Naval Support Activity, in La Maddalena, Sardinia, Italy; the U.S. Coast Guard Training Center in Petaluma CA; on the USS HARRY S TRUMAN CVN 75; and finally at the Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach VA. I retired from the Navy in 2004 and returned to Kansas City. I am a veteran of the First Gulf War.
I was assigned as pastor of Christ the King in Kansas City, then as pastor at St. Bernadette in Kansas City, and then given an additional palish, Our Lady of Lourdes in Raytown, in addition to St. Bernadette where I am presently residing.
My interest in history and the Civil War began at an early age and was especially sparked by attending the centennial celebration and reenactment of the First Battle of Lexington in 1961.
I enjoy the round table immensely and am glad to serve as Chaplain.
God Bless,
Father Dave Holloway
