Jack and Anne Holder’s love story began with a chance encounter on a
snowbound train in 1952. In late December 1951, my mother Anne, along
with her friend Joyce departed from France aboard the SS Queen Mary
and headed for home and arrived back in New York on January 05, 1952.
Less than a week later they boarded a train from New York bound for
Chicago, across the Rockies and Sierras and back to the Bay Area to visit
their families, on a course that would change her life forever.
When they arrived in Chicago, they boarded another train called “The City
of San Francisco” that would take them to their destination in San
Francisco. Unbeknownst to mom a handsome 39-year-old WWII Marine
Corps veteran came on board, returning from a Dairy Queen Convention
and was heading home to Roseburg, Oregon and his name was Jack
Holder.
On Sunday, January 13, the train they were traveling on slammed into a
deep snow embankment 20 miles west of Donner Pass, causing it to derail
and trapping the 200 passengers in a blizzard for three days. Jack and
Anne joined one another in a still functioning box car, shared some dinner
and a couple of bourbons together. Before the storm would pass and
rescue trains would arrive, Jack and Anne were given plenty of time to get
acquainted.