June 13, 1935 – July 26, 2026
Dan Hollingsworth was born in Grand Junction, Colorado, June 13, 1935 to Harry B. Hollingsworth and Gertrude A. Hollingsworth (neé Arkell). His first years were with seven siblings in a small log cabin in Unaweep Canyon without electricity, running water or indoor plumbing.
In 1939 the family moved to Pomona, California and had two more sons. New to life in town, the school principal soon called all the brothers into his office to tell them that he ”wasn’t sure how things were done where they came from”, but in California, shoes were required at school. They feared this meant their one pair of “Sunday” shoes—which had to be passed down from so many older brothers wouldn’t last long.
Growing up he worked picking peaches for neighboring farmers and joined 4-H and the FFA. Starting with selling rabbits, his lifelong entrepreneurial spirit was kindled. He would soon move on to bigger things and his first love: dairy cows.
Dan’s first job in dairying was for local dairyman Leonard Scott. Mr. Scott mentored Dan in his early knowledge of the dairy business. Dan would later name his first son after Leonard.
He graduated from Pomona High School in 1953 and attended Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, where he received the George M. Drumm Award as outstanding Dairy Husbandry Senior and was a member of both the Dairy Cattle and Dairy Products Judging Teams. He graduated in three years with a Bachelors Degree in Dairy Science.
During college, he met the great love of his life, Joan Clark. He visited a bible study at Joan’s house, where she says he, “wouldn’t stop staring at her”. Soon they were dating and he began attending Pomona First Baptist Church where Joan introduced him to her faith in Christ.
He proposed on their third date. She commented she liked his name and he asked “would you like to make it yours?” But Dan must be a Christian if they were to marry. He realized he’d better learn about the Jesus that Joan knew. Soon he made a decision to trust the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior.
They were married at Pomona First Baptist, December 11, 1955 and celebrated their 70th anniversary in 2025.
They lived and worked at the Filiponi Dairy just outside of San Luis Obispo while he finished school. He also worked at a handful of dairies in the Central Valley and Chino before realizing he needed to be his own boss. They welcomed two daughters during this time, Bettina Louise (“Tina”) and Marcella Joan (“Marcy”) then bought a small dairy in San Jacinto, California in 1960.
“Dan’s Dairy” was a cash ‘n’ carry dairy where Dan milked fifty cows, Joan helped bottle the milk, and they operated home delivery routes to customers throughout the valley, including up to Idyllwild. Dan’s Dairy supplied milk to the San Jacinto schools and even to the workers building the Palm Springs Tramway. Helicopters landed in the front yard to load up and transport it up the mountain!
By 1967 Dan and Joan had welcomed two boys, Leonard Daniel (“Lennie”) and Dennis Clark to the family. Two years later, they sold the cows and Dan went to work for US Representative Victor Veysey. Here, Dan had an effective way to help constituents and further his conservative ideals and love of country. Redistricting and the political climate after Watergate cost Congressman Veysey the election in 1974. He lost his seat and Dan lost his job. But that didn’t stop Dan’s involvement in Republican politics.
Dan served as chairman of the Riverside County Central Committee twice during more than sixty years of service to the party. He was also a founding director of the Lincoln Club of Riverside County. By 1994, his commitment to voter registration and precinct organization as chairman led to a Republican in every partisan county office for the very first time.
Dan volunteered in leadership roles in agriculture as well. He began serving on the Riverside County Farm Bureau Board of Directors in the mid-1960s, a position he filled until his passing. While a Director he was elected president of the county organization and later served as a State Director of the California Farm Bureau Federation, which honored him with their Distinguished Service Award in 2011. He was also selected for the California Agricultural Leadership Program, Class III, which included trips to Japan and the Pacific Rim and intensive leadership instruction.
For several years Dan sold bull semen for artificial insemination. In 1978 he bought another dairy in San Jacinto, milking over 600 cows, many of them registered Holsteins. He was an early adopter of milking three times a day and other new technology.
He earned a respected presence in the Registered Holstein Association by breeding a top producing herd and some record breaking cows. Beauty broke national milk production records. Later, Gloria became the matriarch of one of the top families in the breed.
Dan soon discovered that government interference in the marketplace was causing insurmountable barriers to entry for newcomers and depressed prices for all dairymen. Facing financial ruin, he put his entrepreneurial mind and his life experience to an extreme test.
Following several sleepless nights spent toiling at his desk, he announced to Joan that he “couldn’t solve his problem without solving everybody’s problem.” This turned into a nearly three-year effort to establish a new national dairy policy that would reduce the oversupply of milk and wean the industry from federal price supports.
After countless phone calls, meetings and miles of travel around the country and in Washington, DC, Dan built a national effort behind his idea. That effort used his knowledge of Congress and his political sense, culminating in the Dairy Herd Termination Program in the 1985 Farm Bill. It was passed by Congress and signed by President Reagan.
One of Dan’s defining lifelong characteristics was his determination to solve problems for others. Another was his tremendous generosity. Many people benefited from his experience and caring mentorship.
In 1986 he left the dairy business again and he and Joan bought land in Murrieta from family friends and started a wholesale tree nursery.
JoDan Farms Nursery supplied large trees to public projects, schools, businesses and families throughout Southern California and Nevada for the next 39 years. The trees Dan grew created a lasting legacy for some of the largest projects in Las Vegas and line many streets of Murrieta today.
But his greatest earthly legacy and the most significant impact of his life stems from his seventy year marriage to Joan. Together Dan and Joan successfully passed on their Christian faith to their four children. Dan’s dedication to Joan and his sacrificial care for her, particularly in the final decade of his life, serve as an example of the godly husband instructed to love his wife as Christ loved his bride, the Church.
Dan is survived by his wife, Joan; his daughters, Tina Spurgin, Marcy Preston (Larry) and sons, Lennie (Heidi) and Dennis (Natalie) Hollingsworth. He is also survived by his brothers Bob and Charles Hollingsworth, seventeen grandchildren and step-grandchildren, and twenty-seven great-grandchildren and step-great grandchildren.
He will be remembered for his kindness, generosity, hard-working character, brilliant mind, and devotion to his family. Most of all he will be remembered for his steadfast faith and sincere efforts to spread the Gospel of Christ.
Toward that end, in 2013 Dan built a large white cross using painted boulders on the face of the hill he owned above Murrieta. Visible from across the valley, it proclaims Christ’s sacrifice and has become a local landmark.
From a cabin in the mountains of Colorado to the halls of Washington, DC to a hilltop nursery in southern California, Dan Hollingsworth’s life exemplified the American Dream. But most importantly, his family rejoices in knowing that because of his faith in Jesus he has received his promised “Crown of Righteousness” and has been welcomed to his new and eternal home with the words of Christ, “Well done, My good and faithful servant.”
A Celebration of Life will be held August 21st 2026, at Orchard Church, 39777 Avenida Acacias, Murrieta, CA 92563 at 11am.
