Raymond Holler speaks up loud and clear
Staff writer
Raymond Holler has a few things on his mind and isn't afraid to voice his opinion about child-rearing, fishing, Hillsboro, and life, in general.
Born in McPherson County on the family farm, the Holler place has been owned by his family since 1913. Originally, the family owned 160 acres, but the Holler place, which is in a trust, has now grown to 480 acres.
Raymond graduated from Little River High School in 1970 and stayed to work on the family farm until about the age of 28.
"Back when the buffaloes were still around, my kids would say," Raymond said.
He left the farm to work in factory jobs for 20 years. He worked four years at Keystone Railroad Manufacturing until the plant closed.
Looking for something to do, Raymond and his wife, Vicki, took over a film processing company in McPherson in June of 2000. Their daughter worked for the company that the Hollers took over through a variety of circumstances.
Later, his daughter and son-in-law bought a paper and film machine thinking they would go into the film processing business. But again, through a variety of circumstances, the plans did not happen.
"I took a big gamble and bought the machine from them and opened up a mini-lab in Hillsboro," Raymond said.
On Nov. 25, 2002, Raymond opened up his second mini-lab, called Photo Express.
"My wife runs the one in McPherson, and I'm here in Hillsboro," he said.
One statistic Raymond said he was not aware of when he first came to Hillsboro was that the population was older.
"I meet a lot of people, while working here," Raymond said. "I enjoy meeting and working with people."
"There are times when this job can be exceptionally rewarding or it can be a pain in where you sit down," Raymond said, smiling.
Raymond said he is the executive, the scum on the floor, and the maintenance man.
"The only one that is important is the maintenance man," Raymond said. "You had better know what you're doing when working with these machines."
Raymond knows every inch of the machine and can tell just by the sound what the problem may be.
After spending time with Raymond, it is obvious that he loves his kids. His youngest is Zach, who is a sophomore at McPherson High school.
He also has a daughter Tracy who has received awards for cheerleading and will attend Emporia State this fall.
Daughter Christy graduated from Bethel College in May 2004 and will teach special education classes at Junction City.
"I love my kids and am very proud of them," Raymond said. "My daughter Tracy calls me the "Old Pooh."
Raymond said his life philosophy is saying 'yes' to his kids as much as possible.
"When you say 'no,' say it only once," he said.
"You don't learn responsibility without having responsibility," Raymond said.
Raymond said his kids have keys to everything he owns.
"If I don't trust my kids, who in the world am I going to trust," he exclaimed.
Raymond knows his philosophy may be a tad different than most. But, for the Hollers it has worked.
"My kids are very responsible," he said. "They may not do things perfect or fabulous, but I give them responsibilities and I don't coddle them"
"I think, parents are coddling their children too much nowadays, and kids don't learn to be responsible," he added.
As a family, they go to the Holler family farm and camp out.
"I didn't realize how special the place was until I started bringing people out there," Raymond said. "I guess I took it (the farm) for granted."
One of the things Raymond enjoys is pond fishing which is something he and Zach enjoy doing together.
"My favorite thing to do is to catch small fish and cook them over an open fire at the Holler place," Raymond said.
For Raymond — life doesn't get any better than that.
