Bob HoldenAssociate Director of Multimedia Services
Rock star? Recording magnate? Marketing whiz? Audio engineer? -- Will the real Bob Holden please stand up? Ask Bob that series of questions and he’ll have to stand up . . . four times!
Not many of us have opportunity to re-invent ourselves, to undertake radical departures in life-style or career. Bob Holden, associate director of Multimedia Services, has done so three times, however, living through the ‘60s and ‘70s like many of us have only dreamed about.
1960s rock star: Remember “Louie, Louie”? The Kingsmen? Paul Revere and the Raiders? That was Portland in the mid-1960s and that was Bob’s scene as a member of the rock group, Don & the Good Times. They recorded six albums, had multiple singles on the national charts, and held the number one slot in Seattle for four weeks running with their national hit song “I Could Be So Good to You”. The group moved to L.A. for a time, performing as regulars on Dick Clark’s “Where the Action Is,” then moved back to the Northwest in 1968.
Early 1970s recording magnate: Soon after that, Bob and others opened Seattle’s first 8-track recording studio, “Sea West,” whose most significant achievement was to record Heart’s “Dog and Butterfly” album. Later Bob and two partners opened yet another studio, Holden Hamilton & Roberts, this one developing a substantial client base producing soundtracks for radio and TV commercials.
Later 1970s marketing whiz: Which brings us to the marketing years. In time Bob’s new firm followed a natural progression from promoting to distributing one of its client’s products, Mountain Mama bread. The bread became very popular, began moving into the Midwest, and Bob’s firm was on the verge of cashing in big-time when Hillbilly Bread sued them for copyright infringement. Two years later Mountain Mama and HRR were vindicated, but by then the damage was done – no more Mountain Mama and little left of HRR. So what’s a guy to do? Well, move on to a new career, of course.
1980s family man and audio engineer: Bob’s life really wasn’t so compartmentalized that at this point he suddenly found a family, but with his move to PLU as an audio engineer in 1982 he began working for someone else for the first time and was in fact able to focus a great deal more on family and a well-defined job. He and wife Linda have five children, two grand children, and have a third grand baby on the way. Before the birth of their youngest son, Alex, Linda worked at PLU in both the Reistrar’s office and Conference & Events. Linda now runs the library at Tacoma Baptist Schools where Alex, now 15, is a freshman.
Time yet for one more re-invention? Absolutely! Members of a Four Square Gospel Church, Bob and Linda plan to continue their short-term mission trips with one to Idaho this summer. Now they are beginning to imagine what they could do along that path in retirement later on. Then there’s Bob’s avid fishing hobby. (They live on American Lake, after all.) And there is this growing family and a larger world to be seen. All of which sounds like the makings of yet another re-invention.