FARMINGTON – Joseph Frederick Holman, 83, of 129 Orchard St., Farmington, a prominent, retired, third-generation lawyer, died on Oct. 12, of cancer.

He was born Aug. 15, 1925, son of the late Currier C. Holman and Rosa (Skillings) Holman at Farmington, his cherished hometown. He attended Farmington public schools where he was a member of the Farmington High School state championship basketball team of 1942. He graduated from Hebron Academy in the Class of 1943, where he played football.

In the summer of 1943, he was admitted to Bowdoin College from which he later graduated.

In October 1943, he volunteered for the U.S. Navy pilot training program and attended Middlebury College and midshipman’s schools, obtaining his commission. The V-5 pilot program was cancelled. He was discharged in 1946 as a lieutenant.

After graduating from Bowdoin College he attended Boston University School of Law, finishing in the Class of 1950. He was admitted to the Bar of the Supreme Court of Maine in 1951, and joined his father Currier C. Holman at the family law firm started by his grandfather, Joseph C. Holman, in Franklin County in 1874.

Joe’s professional associations included being president of the Maine Medical-Legal Society for 1957-58; member of Maine Trial Lawyers Association; and the Association of Trial Lawyers of America; American Bar Association; member of Maine State Bar Association executive committee, 1963-71. He was elected its president 1971-1972, as were his grandfather, Joseph C. Holman and his father, Currier C. Holman.

He served local and state government positions over the years. He was elected to three terms as county attorney, 1953-1958. In 1954-55 he was appointed a member of the Governor’s Advisory Council of Inland Fisheries and Game. During 1957-72 he served by appointment of the governor as public administrator for Franklin County. He was elected as assessor of the Farmington Village Corporation, 1956-1976, and since 1980.

In 1955 he initiated the first land use-zoning ordinance in Farmington as the Farmington Village Corporation Zoning Plan adopted Oct. 4, 1955, for the purposes of guiding development and protecting property values. In 1970-71 he was elected state senator for Franklin County, an office earlier held by his father, grandfather and great-grandfather. He served by appointment of the governor for three four-year terms since 1990 as attorney member of the Maine State Claims Commission, which involved deciding on the damages of eminent domain proceedings throughout Maine.

Always active in the community, he was for many years counsel and trustee of Farmington Home for Aged People, clerk of the Farmington Cemetery Association, and trustee of Farmington Public Library, as well as president of the library. He was a past president and director of the Nordica Memorial Association. He was an active member of Old South Church and served the church at different times as trustee and deacon.

He was a life member of Maine Lodge #20 of Masons at Farmington and a past commander of Pilgrim Commandery #19, and president of Franklin Shrine Club of Kora Temple. Always a Republican, he was active in town, county and state committees, and enjoyed attending national conventions and presidential inaugurations.

He enjoyed alpine skiing locally and in New England, as well as Austria and France. He skied in the Rockies during the early days of Aspen and Vail. He was an original stockholder of Sugarloaf Mountain. He was an organizer and director of Saddleback Mountain ski area.

In 1977 he married Brenda Hart of South Hope. They shared their interest in skiing together but their interest in their old home on Orchard Street was of most importance. They spent many happy years there, always improving it, and he always appreciated Brenda’s flower gardens.

Joe learned to hunt and fish with his father, spending many youthful hours on the lakes and in the forests of western and northern Maine. He held a Maine master registered guide’s license.

Spending years fishing on Rangeley Lake and admiring a cottage at Haines Point, he was successful in purchasing it around 1950. One of his greatest joys in life thereafter was spending time in the summers at Las Brisas with Brenda and his family.

He also had a great time in Aroostook County at his log cabin at Nine Mile Bridge during earlier years of plentiful partridge and deer hunting.

Fly fishing was his favorite sport, and for over 40 years he was clerk and a member of the Megantic Fish & Game Club, where the trout fishing was always good and where his cabin “Wigwam” was a favorite retreat for him and friends

He and his father were partners in their law firm for nearly 30 years, except for a while when they were also joined by Ronald Cullenberg. During their extended partnership he and his father enjoyed a busy practice including probate, real estate, domestic, criminal defense and corporate law.

During the senior years of his parents, Currier and Rosa Holman, which extended to their late 90s, he was especially devoted to them, to their mutual enjoyment. His sister, Dr. Loraine Holman Erhard, and her family spent each summer with Joe and his family at Rangeley and the tradition continues with his niece Susan Erhard Todd, and her husband, Rob, and their two sons, Currier and Joseph being there.

He was appreciative of the many years Frances Dyke served as his private secretary. He was also thankful for the caretaking of his homes by George and Judy Lowell.

Joe was a tall, friendly country lawyer who took an interest in whomever he met. He always appreciated that he was fortunate to have lived in Franklin County with the people and environment that he loved.