S. Dennis Holland
S. Dennis Holland was born and raised in St. George, Utah. His great great grandparents were among the first wagons into the Valley of the Great Salt Lake with Brigham Young and were called by Brigham Young to settle St. George and what is now Carson City, Nevada. Growing up in St George and having this ancestral heritage has given him his love of Western U.S. History.
He graduated from Dixie College in St George where he excelled in sports, drama, art, and student government. He received his Pharmacy Degree from the College of Pharmacy at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1960.
Mr. Holland has lived in the Northern California area since 1961 where he owned and operated a small chain for retail pharmacies in the Sacramento/Sierra Nevada foothills area until 1990, when he semi-retired. He currently works consulting pharmacies and small businesses. He is a member of a number of national, state, and local pharmacy organizations and has served as President of numerous civic, service and retail organizations.
He is author of the book, “Sierra Saints” A Brief history of the Mormons in Western El Dorado County from 1847 to 1997, and is responsible for getting the LDS Church to produce the video, ” More Precious Than Gold, Contributions of the Mormon Battalion,” which was a gift from the LDS Church to the State of California for the Commemoration of the Sesquicentennial of the Discovery of Gold in California. He was part of the delegation that presented it to then Governor Pete Wilson.
He has held numerous positions of leadership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and previously served as Bishop of the Placerville California Ward, whose boundaries include Coloma, where California Gold was discovered. He is currently serving for the Church as the Director of Public Affairs of LDS Historic Sites in California, and Director of Public Affairs for the Sacramento Multi-stake Public Affairs Council.
He is also currently serving as the Chairman of the California State Living History Committee, as well as President of the California Pioneer Heritage Foundation.