Remembering Holly Castle: True to Her Name

Pictured: Doctor holding patients hands with heart figuring, representing organ donation

By Rick Rader, MD, Editor-in-chief of HELEN, and Holly's friend

It's funny how some names just fit the person. All names are derived from certain characteristics and traits. For instance, Alex personifies a defender. Bella comes from being beautiful. Grace reflects elegance and Ivory projects purity. 

Perhaps nowhere was there a more appropriate name for a person than Holly Castle. 

Holly was a much loved and admired individual by everyone who knew her. Born with an intellectual and developmental disability, Holly first attended school at the Orange Grove Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee where she later became a resident.

Pictured: Swimmers competing

Holly was well known for her participation in the Special Olympics, where she won numerous Gold Medals in swimming, and track and field. She was also a founding member of the cheerleading squad for the Chattanooga Roller Girls, a women's professional roller derby team. She was at all their games with pom poms in hand, leading the crowd to cheer their team. 

Pictured: Holly Castle

For those who had the privilege of calling her their friend, it came as no surprise to learn that the name Holly comes from the holly plant and means resilience and eternal life. Holly certainly had an abundance of true resilience and used it to overcome many obstacles that people with disabilities encounter daily. The part of her name that means eternal life was made abundantly clear at the end of her life. 

Holly's last name “Castle” is a reminder of a place that is fortified against attack and intrusion. Holly never allowed anyone that stigmatized people with disabilities to intrude on her or her friends. 

The reference to the name Holly meaning eternal life was put into perspective when she recently died at the age of sixty-two. In honoring Holly's love of people, her family decided to have Holly be an organ donor. Holly provided life-giving second chances to sixteen people–all who could also become organ donors and continue the life-extending legacy that begins with Holly's multiple gifts. 

On behalf of Holly, her family, and the HELEN community, we urge everyone to consider becoming an organ donor. 

”You are a piece of the puzzle of someone else's life. You may never know where you fit, but others will fill the holes in their lives with pieces of you." - Bonnie Arbon