Norman B. Holden

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Norman B. Holden, 76, of Warwick, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, February 14, 2018. Norman was the beloved husband to the late Maria (Gomes) Holden.

He was the son of the late Elmer J. and Leona (Henley) Holden. Norm was employed by Yushin America, Inc. as a Mechanical Engineer designing robots until his retirement in the mid 2000’s. He proudly served his country in the United States Navy as an Engine Builder traveling throughout many countries. “Stormin Norman” as his racing friends knew him spent thirty plus years of his life doing what he truly loved, working on and building race cars but his greatest passion of all was driving them which he did extremely well throughout the New England area, “Seekonk Speedway” being his home track. His racing accomplishments from the late 1960’s through the late 1990’s include a handful of Division Championships and many races won even including the “Powder Puff” which he so proudly was sure to mention in his speech when he was one of the first three inductees to be inducted into the “Wall of Fame” at Seekonk Speedway in 2013.

His summer passion during his retirement and what brought so much joy to his life was spending as much time as he could boating, fishing with his amazing friends and relaxing on the water with his daughters and grandsons, enjoying life and reminiscing about the good ole days. He would always seem to start his sentence with…. “Back in the day…..!!!” He was a stoic, proud, but very loyal man and always said it like it was, honest and truthful whether you wanted to hear it or not, a trait that was appreciated especially by his daughters and longtime friends.

He was the loving, dedicated, and protective father to his two daughters, Bonnie Lynn Holden of Warwick and Kerri Lynn (Holden) Vieira of Foster and father-in-law to Mark Vieira of Foster. He was the Best Buddy to his late son, Ty Holden and the cherished grandfather to Landon Flanary of Warwick and Noah Vieira of Foster. Norman was the brother to Leona (Holden) Cruz of Warwick, Paul Holden of Warwick, Gerald Holden of Warwick, Henry Holden of Orlando, FL and the late Elmer and David Holden. He was also the uncle to many nieces and nephews.

His family welcomes relatives and friends to celebrate Norman’s life at visiting hours on Wednesday, February 21, 2018 from 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. in the Urquhart-Murphy Funeral Home, 800 Greenwich Avenue, Warwick. (Exit 12-A off I-95). Burial will be private.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in Norman’s memory to Providence VA Medical Center, 830 Chalkstone Ave., Providence, RI 02908. For on-line condolences please visit: www.murphyfuneralhomes.org