It was a tribute to law enforcement, nature, family and happiness: all the things that embodied sheriff’s Deputy Hollis Holland.

Finding a seat Saturday was difficult at the memorial service for Holland, who died Feb. 1 of a heart attack while snowmobiling near Molas Pass. The memorial’s setting, at Fort Lewis College’s Whalen Gym, seemed fitting for a man who apparently loved sports and taught so many in the community so much.

Holland began working for the La Plata County Sheriff’s Office in the early 1990s and worked part-time for the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office. He served in five of six divisions of the La Plata County office since 1991, Undersheriff David Griggs said.

He received numerous honors, including two merit badge awards: one in 2002 for leading an investigation that resulted in the arrest of a woman who was intentionally starting fires during the Missionary Ridge Fire and another in 2010 after rescuing a woman who was inside a burning house.

While each speaker at Holland’s memorial was quick to note his service to the area, the friends, family members and colleagues who shared stories of Holland painted a portrait of a man who lived a life full of adventures on and off duty.

He certainly was not a slave to law enforcement – he lived a full life, said Griggs, who worked with Holland for the last 20 years.

While growing up in California, Holland loved the ocean and the mountains and was active in individual sports such as mountain climbing and skiing, as well as team sports such as baseball, football and soccer, said Holland’s brother Kimmet Holland, assistant fire chief of the Santa Fe County (N.M.) Fire Department.

Hollis Holland graduated from high school and attended college in Arkansas, where he met his wife, Patricia, Kimmet Holland said.

“He proposed to Patti and promised her if she married him, she would never be bored; life is an adventure,” Kimmet Holland said.

The couple moved to the area after Holland visited Silverton in the 1970s for an Outward Bound course, Kimmet Holland said. Hollis Holland called his wife and instructed her to pack their things and come to Silverton, his brother said.

During his time in the area, Holland worked in a mine, spent 10 years leading the San Juan County Search and Rescue Team, worked with the Silverton Avalanche School and helped develop the deputy-ski program at Purgatory at Durango Mountain Resort.

“Over the years, we worked together to improve and build the deputy program, which we both cared about so much,” said Judy Wachob, vice president of village services at Durango Mountain Resort. Every day on the slopes was a great one for Holland, Wachob said.

“In many ways, Hollis is this region for me,” said Steve Meyers, an instructor in the English department at FLC, local author and longtime friend of Holland’s.

Meyers read a short story called “Damn Trout” from his book Notes from the San Juans: Thoughts About Fly Fishing and Home at the memorial. “Damn Trout,” which Publishers Weekly called “one of the truest and funniest pieces about the outdoors to be written in the modern era” in a review, is a story about Holland threatening Meyers for calling him an intellectual during a river trip together.

Being immortalized in such a tale seems fitting for Holland, who, Kimmet Holland said, loved the author Edward Abbey.

Many stories and photos displayed at the memorial told a story of a man who loved fishing and skiing with his friends and family.

In fact, Kimmet Holland said, his brother had made five trips down the Grand Canyon and led three.

Frank Sandoval, an investigator with the La Plata County Sheriff’s Office who knew Hollis Holland for 21 years, recalled a time when Holland pulled a 12-pound striper out of Lake Powell using a child’s-size fishing pole.

“For me, Hollis was more than a friend: He was as close to a brother as you can get,” Sandoval said.

Another story that earned lots of chuckles from the teary-eyed crowd came from Lt. Ed Aber of the La Plata County Sheriff’s Office, who introduced speakers throughout the memorial service.

Aber explained how two weeks after Holland began working on Aber’s patrol shift, he asked Aber for permission to wear suspenders with his uniform. Concluding the goofy tale, Aber pointed to a stand displaying a pair of skis on the stage, over which hung the belt and suspenders from Holland’s uniform.

A slide show of Holland showed him wearing his uniform, ski equipment, swim trunks and even a Santa Clause costume.

It also showed him having a blast, goofing around and enjoying vacations with his wife, sons Jacob and Nathaniel, grandsons and many other friends and family members.

Other speakers at the memorial service included investigator Mike Brown; Bill Gardner, a retired police chief from Grand Junction; and San Juan County Sheriff Sue Kurtz, who knew Holland for 30 years.

“What a good man and a good friend Hollis has been to so many,” Kurtz said.

A private family funeral was held Monday in Silverton.