“I have lived quite a life; I think I should write a book,” says Daniel Holliday, a resident at St. John’s Home since 2023. As a veteran, husband, father, illustrator, and engineer — Daniel, or simply, Dan, as he likes to be called, has lived an adventurous life worthy of an autobiography.

Dan has always been a creative person. He has liked to observe the world around him and draw what he saw. So, it was no surprise when he decided to study fine arts at the University of Buffalo. It was there that he met another fellow artist, Marilyn. She was studying to be an art teacher. “Some people are just born to be teachers, and Marilyn was one of those people,” says Dan. The two bonded over their love of art and faith, and shortly after meeting, began dating.

“I took an Army aptitude test, and it told me I would be a good engineer — I didn’t question it,” says Dan. “So, I went south to North Carolina for engineering school.” The Niagara Falls native says that he liked the change of scenery because he strongly dislikes snow and winter.

Dan’s time in school was cut short when the Army drafted him at the tail end of the Korean War.

He says that while on the boat to Korea he was unsure of what he would be doing. “They already had enough engineers, so they didn’t need another one, I asked myself what they needed me for,” says Dan.

“They were handing out combat boots, but they didn’t give me any and then they put me on a truck to Seoul with three writers who were drafted.”

Dan says that when Col. Jack Shannon came stomping in, “as only Shannon could,” he came in demanding for writers. Dan spoke up and asked if he could be of any use as an artist.

“I became head of two Korean artists who drew instructional posters, like How to Get Rid of Rats in Your Bunk, type of thing,” says Dan.

He became close with Col. Shannon and others on the base, but after about a year, Dan was sent to Tokyo, Japan.

In Tokyo Dan worked in the treasury building, which was occupied by the United States. Thinking he had left behind his friends in Korea, Col. Shannon called Dan into his office asking for his opinion on a painting. The two were reconnected for a year until Shannon allowed Dan to take an early discharge to finish school and marry Marylin.

“It was a long engagement, but she waited for me.”

When Dan returned from overseas, he finished his degree and got a job as a technical illustrator for rockets at Bell Aircraft in Buffalo. He then married Marilyn on December 26, 1956. “Me being Catholic, we got married the day after Christmas,” says Dan.

While Marilyn continued to teach elementary art, Dan was approached by a former Bell coworker out in Rochester.

He was offered a job at General Dynamics, so Dan and Marilyn moved to Rochester. This is where they raised their two daughters, Lori and Lynn.

Eight months into this job, Dan got a call from former General Dynamics Manager Leo Perrault. Dan says that Leo asked him to consider joining his publications department at a local company.

Dan recalls fondly that you would not have been able to guess that in the basement of an old house on Lyell Avenue was a department of a company in its infancy — Xerox.

“My wife and I didn’t know what the company actually made so when I was there, I asked,” says Dan. “Leo said they were developing an MOP program, and I thought to myself, “Is this a broom company?””

What the group was actually working on was the first desktop printer (weighing in at 200 lbs.) and Dan signed on. “I became in charge of the art department,” says Dan. For the next several years Dan was in charge of the department that published instructional manuals, ads, and more.

“In the last 15 years I was with them I became the producer, writer, and director of the videos we made to train technicians,” Dan says. “I wrote the scripts, hired people from the local news stations — it was a lot of fun.”

In 2002 Marilyn and Dan retired and moved down to Florida. They spent their days painting, golfing, and going to church. In 2010 Marilyn passed away.

Dan moved back to Rochester and remarried. He was married to Marge for a few years until her passing. In 2022 Dan moved into St. John’s Meadows. After having some issues with his balance in 2023, his daughter, Lynn urged Dan to move to St. John’s Home.

“I rehabbed here after spine surgery and was able to recover pretty well. Now I live here,” says Dan.

Dan says his faith is what has made him stay so positive over the years. From losing loved ones, moving, and three intensive surgeries, he says that God has been his constant.

“I prayed the rosary every day for a year after Marilyn’s death,” says Dan, “I was lost without her.”

After a year of prayers, he says he was visited by Marilyn, dressed in her wedding gown. “She told me I was going to be just fine, and that she is in heaven,” Dan says heartfully.

“I always tear up when I talk about it, but I love telling people that story.”

After living at St. John’s Home for a little over a year Dan says he “enjoys it here.” Dan never misses a Catholic Mass and Communion in the St. John’s Chapel, as well as the many therapeutic recreation activities like craft classes, listening to music, and especially Big Bucks Bingo.

“I am saving up for a sports car,” he laughs.