(Former Bus Driver For Pettisville Schools)
Christina (Weidenbauer) Holland passed away on Tuesday, June 5, 2024, at 59 years of age. She left behind a legacy of love, energy, and generosity that will live on in the community.
Chris was born on July 20, 1964, in Neuburg a.d. Donau, Germany, and lived in Nesselwang, Germany, until the age of 20. She relocated to Fayette, OH, on March 24, 1985, to work on a dairy farm, in conjunction with Cobra Select Sires.
She was offered a job with Cobra Select Sires, but instead ended up at Sauder Manufacturing in Stryker, OH, building prototypes.
Perhaps her most famous work was as a bus driver for Pettisville Local Area Schools. She drove the 70-passenger school bus for 17 years, leaving a legacy of good deeds, caring, and love.
Even over ten years after she left the profession, the now-grown children she used to ferry to and from school will still talk about the kindness and joy she brought to every ride. She considered every student her child and was indeed considered to be a mother to everyone.
After her bus driving career, she became a State Tested Nursing Assistant (STNA) working first for Fairlawn Retirement Community in Archbold, OH, and then at Passionate Care Inc. Senior In-Home Care, serving all of Fulton Co., OH.
Chris brought the same compassion and energy to assistant nursing as she did bus driving and is still remembered fondly by her patients – especially her “snowball backrubs” and other pranks on her geriatric patients.
Outside of her working life, Chris led an active and enriching life. All who knew her would say she never sat still. Chris served as the head advisor of the Countryside Clovers 4-H Club in Archbold, OH, for 20 years, and as the poultry advisor for the Eveready 4-H Club in Pettisville, OH, for ten years.
She was a board member of the Five County Farm Bureau association for 15 years. She is particularly famous at the Farm Bureau for her Carrot Project, where she organized volunteers from across multiple counties to collect, clean, and bag 180,000 pounds of leftover carrots that were destined to rot and shipped them to food banks all over Ohio.
Chris also brought her farm work home, to what she dubbed the “Family Circus Farm”. There she raised cows, rabbits, and 4,000 chickens. However, Chris was an equestrian at heart, and she especially adored her horse, Christie, and her pony, Tony.
While Chris loved farming, she wasn’t such a fan of gardening, as she preferred to spend her time with horses and people rather than tending a garden. She did however grow rhubarb and currant berries along the south side of her home in Archbold, OH.
She was especially proud of her heritage rhubarb, which was deep ruby red and which friends regularly stopped by to pick. She loved cooking, as evidenced by the bookshelf of cookbooks in her kitchen.
With her home-grown currant berries and rhubarb, she would make her famous rhubarb crunch and currant berry jam. She is also remembered for her tomato sauce (made from scratch and canned at home), her cheese danishes, and her spetzle and rouladen, traditional German meals that harkened back to her childhood.
Chris was an accomplished quilter; she has made 17 of her own quilts and contributed to innumerable community quilts. She also worked as a community volunteer at Threads of Tradition, the quilt shop in Historic Sauder Village.
Chris married Bruce Holland on December 27, 1986. They met when a mutual friend invited Bruce to the music store where Chris took lessons.
They were together six months before they married, and they celebrated their 37th anniversary in 2023. They had two sons: Michael, 34, and Benjamin, 32.
Chris became a United States citizen on August 13, 1993. It is well known that Chris was the lifeforce of Fulton County. She was the first to offer a kind word, a piece of advice, or a swift kick in the butt – depending upon what you needed at the time.
She was as protective as a mama bear when one of her children was threatened – whether biological or not. She was tough, kind, fierce, and gentle. She brought sunshine to everyone she met, and her light will continue to shine on for years to come.
Chris is survived by her mother, Anna Weidenbauer; her husband, Bruce Holland; her son Michael and his wife Jennifer; her son Benjamin and his partner Krystyanna; her sisters Anja (Robert) Henge and their children Regina and Larissa and Evelyn (Cristoff) Weidenbauer; her sister-in-law Colleen (Jon) Rufenacht; her brother-in-law Brent (Shonna) Holland; her nieces Jill Holland Conrad, Lindsey Holland Lange, Jessica Tingley, and Katrina Yates; her grand-nieces Allison Conrad, Rose Lange, Violet Lange, Jocelyn Yates, Autumn Yates, and Katelyn Kinsey; and her grand-nephews Luke Conrad, Izaak Conrad, Hudson Lange, and Zachary Tingley.
Chris will be interred at Evergreen Cemetery in Ransom, MI. A viewing will be held on Monday, June 10, 2024, from 4:00pm-8:00pm at Tedrow Mennonite Church and the funeral will be held on Tuesday, June 11, 2024, at 11:00am, also at Tedrow Mennonite Church.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Mennonite Central Committee. Online condolences may be offered to the family at www.grisierfh.com Grisier Funeral Home in Archbold has been entrusted with arrangements.