CCS' Unsung Hero is known for her smile

Intermountain Catholic

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Florence Holtshouser (right) hands a food tray to Darla in Saint Vincent de Paul's dining hall and wishes her a good day.IC photo/Christine Young

SALT LAKE CITY — Florence Holtshouser has been feeding the hungry in the Salt Lake City for more than 60 years and is known for her smile.

Most days during lunch she can be found standing outside the kitchen window at Saint Vincent de Paul dining hall and "as the trays come out, she hands them to the homeless person, looks them in the eye and says ‘hello’ and ‘have a good day,’ and you can tell by her voice and her sweet demeanor that she really means it," said Dennis Kelsch, Catholic Community Services Basic Needs Services director, who oversees the dining hall. "They know her well and they know her by name. I think for the homeless who go through so much on the streets, to have a steady person that they see every day, who is kind to them, offers them one corner of stability in their lives. I think she is a spokesperson for St. Vincent and the Catholic diocese."

"She has a smile and a ‘hello’ for everyone; she is a true Christian woman," said Jackie Harover, Ladies of Charity president of Our Lady of Lourdes Chapter, who has known Holtshouser for 35 years. "She always has a kind word to say about everybody. I’ve sung in the choir with her for years, worked with her at St. Vincent, she’s been in the altar society, the Woman of the Year, and now she is a Lady of Charity. She treats every person with respect, dignity and kindness."

Holtshouser is a hard-working volunteer, said Jeff Bailey, CCS Food Services manager. "She puts a grin on my face and I love her. She is good with everybody; all of our volunteers, the clients – everybody loves her. She brings a smile to everybody’s face."

John Wirth, a food service employee, is blessed to have met Holtshouser, he said. "She is an angel incarnate," he said.

Holtshouser was born and lived in Providence, Utah until she "married a good-looking Catholic sailor at Saint Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church and left," she said.

Holtshouser’s family belonged to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and, although she promised to raise her six children in the Catholic faith and she prefers to worship in the Catholic Church, she isn’t a member of the faith, she said.

"But I remember when I was baptized as I was brought up out of the water that there is only one baptism for the forgiveness of sins," she said.

Holtshouser has been attending Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Salt Lake City for over 60 years, and although she isn’t a member, she supports the Church all she can. Her children graduated from Our Lady of Lourdes School, five of them graduated from Judge Memorial Catholic High School and one from Saint Mary of the Wasatch. Her daughter is a Holy Cross sister and five of her grandchildren are also Judge Memorial graduates.

Holtshouser took her children with her to serve the poor as she moved from site to site with St. Vincent de Paul, beginning more than 60 years ago in the basement of the building east of the Cathedral of the Madeleine. In the 1980s, what was then the St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store on 200 West began serving soup and bread. It was destroyed by a fire in 1986 and rebuilt in 1987 as the St. Vincent de Paul Center at its current location.

Holtshouser also worked in the Our Lady of Lourdes School lunch room for many years and in the Judge Memorial bookstore for 40 years before retiring in 2008, "but during the summer and on the school holidays, I would go down to St. Vincent to serve meals," she said. "As I greet the poor, I see the eyes of Jesus in them and think ‘Oh, but for the grace of God go I.’ And when I leave I have a thousand more blessings each day. The people I work with have become my extended family."

Holtshouser learned the gift of giving from her mother, she said. "When my mom would bake a big batch of cookies or donuts, my brothers and sisters and I would all have to take plates to the elderly in the neighborhood. Helping others became my pleasure and my joy."

Holtshouser will be recognized for her many years of service on Nov. 7 during the annual CCS Humanitarian Awards Dinner, at which she will be presented with the Unsung Hero award.