Texas LAND•Spring 2017

TEXAS LAND / Profile
HOLT ON TWA
“My dad served on the Texas Parks & Wildlife
Commission. During his tenure, I learned in more detail
what it takes from the public side as well as the private
side to continue our legacy of conservation—and I
encountered TWA for the first time.
Initially, I was involved in the fun stuff like the
convention and the magazine. Then, some good folks
on TWA’s Board of Directors reached out and invited
me to serve on the Executive Committee. I’ll admit that
I’ve been on a learning curve, but am preparing to give
back hopefully.
In my life, I’ve been blessed with some really good
mentors, including Larry Mills, who worked with my
dad and grandad for more than 50 years. Larry helped
us prioritize our hearts’ desires. For me those desires
are wildlife conservation, improving youth through
education and general community progress.
I only join organizations that hit those marks and
where I feel that my skill set can help the organization
achieve its mission and make a meaningful difference.
TWA and I are a good fit.”
In 2016, Holt and his sister, Corinna Holt Richter, began the
process of buying their parents out of Holt Cat, the largest
Caterpillar dealership in the nation. As they take the helm
of a business that can be traced back to their great-great
grandfather, Benjamin Holt, who developed and manufactured
the first track-type tractor, Holt is aware of the legacy.
“It’s an honor to carry on the business,” Holt said.
“Stewarding a legacy business is akin to stewarding a legacy
ranch: we’re providing growth and stability so that the next
generation can participate.”
The Holt family has a long legacy with the land. Peter Holt, an
avid outdoorsman, was born in Peoria, Illinois and reared in an
industry that was directly tied to land. He came to Texas when
his father opened a Caterpillar dealership in Corpus Christi,
which the younger Holt eventually expanded into presentday
Holt Cat. Julianna Hawn Holt grew up as part of a farming
and ranching family who split their time between Nueces and
Gonzales counties.
“My mother and father were the ones who showed me the
value of land ownership and land stewardship in a very personal
way,” Holt said. “My mother introduced me to production
agriculture—and the very important idea that humans can
benefit from the land and give back to the land. My father
taught me the same lesson about wildlife and its management.”
The elder Holts knew that life on the land would teach their
children life lessons and help instill values such as honesty,
innovation and commitment. They lived on a ranch in Blanco
and commuted daily to San Antonio for work and school.
“In hindsight, it had to have been hard on my parents, but
it was great for me,” Holt said. “I got to grow up with horses,
cattle and hunting. I was a bad little kid, who probably got a Red
Ryder BB gun way too early.”
Hunting, whether it was joining family and friends at their
ranches around the state, or getting outdoors on their own
property, was central to the Holt family experience. His
childhood was filled with multi-family jaunts on quail buggies,
where the kids chased lizards and rabbits while the adults set
out after a covey of bob whites, and a lot of early mornings and
late afternoons in deer blinds.
“I really liked hunting with Dad better than Mom just because
Mom was so serious about it,” Holt said. “She loves hunting, but
she’s also very goal-oriented.”
One afternoon Holt, who was eight or nine years old at the
time, was hunting with his mom on the Prade Ranch in Real
County. They had gotten themselves situated in a traditional
rifle blind set up in close proximity to a corn feeder. When the
feeder didn’t go off as scheduled, his mother dispatched young
Holt to set it off. Her final instructions? “Act like a deer.”
“I thought she was teasing, so I just took off walking across
the pasture to the feeder until she opened the window and
made it clear she was not joking,” Holt said.
The youngster took her at her emphatic word.
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