Eugene Harold Holsinger, MD

BURLEY – On Wednesday, January 26, 2022, the world lost a treasure when Dr. Eugene H. Holsinger passed away. Gene was a gifted physician, loving husband and father, avid fly fisherman, golfer, woodworker, and trusted friend. He was born in Nampa, Idaho, on September 6, 1930, to Harold and Mary Holsinger. He was often sick during the first six years of his life until doctors discovered that he had been born with a partial obstruction of both kidneys. One was repaired, the other was removed, and he lived with one kidney for the rest of his life.

His father entered medical school at the University of Oregon when Gene was six years old, and the family carried all of their belongings to Portland with them in a hay wagon they borrowed from one of Gene’s uncles. He attended grade school in Portland and in Tacoma, where his father completed his internship.

In 1942, the family moved to Gene’s hometown - Wendell, Idaho. He started attending school in sixth grade and graduated as salutatorian from Wendell High School in 1949. In addition to playing trumpet in the high school band, he sang in the school chorus and in a barbershop quartet. He continued singing for the rest of his life; in college he sung as part of the college choir and the choir at Boone Presbyterian Church in Caldwell, Idaho, and in the choir of the Burley Presbyterian Church from 1959 until COVID-19 interrupted in-person services.

Gene entered the College of Idaho in 1949 where he was a member of the student council, the Intercollegiate Knights, and the Beta Chi fraternity. He graduated summa cum laude in 1953, and entered medical school at the University of Oregon that fall. But the most important thing that Gene did while enrolled at the C of I was to meet the love of his life. He and Patsy Houston were married on August 15th, 1954.

Gene continued to excel academically in medical school. He was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha (the national medical honor society), and his score on the National Medical Board Exam in 1957 was one of the 10 highest scores in the entire country. He and Patsy moved to Sacramento, California with their nine-month-old son, Kent, in the summer of 1957, and Gene completed a two-year internship and family practice residency at Sacramento County Hospital (now the University of California - Davis Medical Center).

In 1959, Gene and Patsy moved to Burley so that Gene could join a medical practice with Dr. Charles Terhune. Gene continued to practice medicine in Burley until he retired in 1986. He developed a special interest in heart disease. He interpreted electrocardiograms, and he established the first coronary care/intensive care unit in the Cassia County Memorial Hospital. For many years he taught CPR to nurses, emergency medical technicians, and other medical professionals. Gene served as President of the South Central Idaho Medical Society, and he was a member of the Idaho Medical Society, the American Medical Association, and a charter fellow of the American Board of Family Medicine. He served as a member of the Board of Trustees for the College of Idaho for 12 years, as President of the Burley Exchange Club, and as a board member of the Burley Knife and Fork Club.

In spite of all of his professional accomplishments, Gene always had time for his family - and hobbies. He was an avid fly fisherman, visiting Silver Creek at least 10-12 times every season and the streams near West Yellowstone, Montana two or three times a year. He traveled to Alaska three times to fish for salmon and halibut and to New Zealand to fish for trout (and to see the scenery). He also pursued fish in Utah, Oregon, Vermont, New York, and Canada, and in the waves off Nantucket Island, Massachusetts. He also loved woodworking (including building furniture, producing magnificent bowls and screw-topped bottles on a lathe, and wood carving), cross country skiing, golf, and playing a tenor ukulele.

Gene is survived by his wife, Patsy; his sister, Rosemary Beal of Grass Valley, California; and his sons, Kent of Coventry, Connecticut, and Kevin of Mountain View, California.

A Celebration of Life service will be held at 12 noon, Sunday, April 3, 2022, following the morning worship service at the First Presbyterian Church, 2100 Burton Ave. Burley, in the Fellowship Hall. The community is invited to attend.

Arrangements have been placed in the care of Rasmussen-Wilson Funeral Home of Burley.