Shirley Rae Holstrom

1934 – 2026

Sierra Valley lost one of its most notable residents, Shirley Holstrom, on January 20, 2026. Shirley was born on October 2, 1934, to Ray Gourdin and Chris (Steele) Gourdin in Sweets Mine, Utah. Ray was a coal miner whose family had emigrated from France. The family moved in 1946 to Chilcoot, where they opened the Last Chance Bar and Restaurant. Shirley attended the one-room schoolhouse at Vinton and later graduated from Loyalton High School in 1950. She became the bookkeeper for a number of sawmills in Sierra and Plumas Counties. She met Milton Holstrom, Sr in high school, and later the couple began dating. They were married on June 6, 1957, in Carson City, on the day that Milt graduated from the University of Nevada.

Milt and Shirley started Haskell Peak Logging Company in 1964. Shirley was the financial side of the business, while Milt’s crews cut and delivered timber to the family sawmill in Sattley. They ran the business for 22 years, retiring from commercial timber harvesting in 1986 to focus on improving their own timber lands in Sierra Valley.

Shirley was the family matriarch for the Holstrom and Gourdin families for many years, helping out her siblings and being a devoted mother to her three children. She gave many young Sierra Valley kids their first jobs in high school, on the Haskell Peak logging crew piling brush.

Shirley was preceded in death by her parents, Ray and Chris Gourdin, and siblings Edward Gourdin and Rochelle Burton. She is survived by her husband, Milt Holstrom, Sr., sister Linda Stephenson, children Lisa Perry (Richard), Kim Gordon (Gary), and Milt Holstrom, Jr., six grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.

The family plans a private ceremony and burial in Sattley this summer.

Those who wish can send a donation in memory of Shirley to the Sierraville Volunteer Fire Department, PO Box 255, Sierraville, CA, 96126.