Early Years, Education, Military
Holden was one of three sons born to Robert Lee Holden and Grace Holden née Davis in Coolidge, Texas. The Holden and Davis families moved west toward Colorado City, Texas. He was reared on a farm near Rotan, Texas, where he completed high school in 1914.
He procured teacher certification through now-closed Stamford Junior College in Stamford, Texas. In 1915, he accepted a position in Pleasant Valley, Texas, where he was the only instructor of forty-seven students in nine classes. He organized a literary club and basketball teams and led the students to victory in the county interscholastic meeting.
Holden studied Texas history under Professor Joseph A. Hill at West Texas Normal College (now West Texas A&M University) in Canyon, Texas, during the summers of 1917 and 1918. During World War I, Holden served in the Eighty-sixth United States Army Infantry at San Antonio.
Read more about this topic: William Curry Holden
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