Obituaries : William J. Holmes; Fillmore Resident, Sportsman

William Joseph Holmes, an avid sportsman and longtime Fillmore resident, died of a heart attack July 11. He was 62.

Born in Foxboro, Mass., Holmes excelled in sports, particularly basketball, football and track. After high school, he started working as a machinist for the Foxboro Co., a tool and die manufacturer. He remained with the company until his retirement in the late 1980s, after 36 years of employment.

In 1969, he was transferred to a Foxboro Co. plant in Valencia and moved into a home in Fillmore. Widowed in 1991, Holmes remarried a year later.

Holmes frequently returned to Massachusetts to fish for striped bass in the waters off Cape Cod.

“He loved fishing,” said his wife, Susan. “He absolutely adored it.”

He was also fond of horses and raised five of them at the Fillmore Equestrian Center.

Holmes is also survived by daughters Joanne Vest of Santa Paula and Christine Holmes of Ventura, stepdaughter Kimberly Holmes of Fillmore, and stepsons Brian Holmes of Universal City and Shane Ortman of Watertown, S.D.

A service was held Tuesday in Fillmore.