HOLAN
LENORE (DIGGIN)
Lenore (Diggin) Holan, who raised five children and enjoyed five grandchildren during a 63-year marriage, died November 26, 2025,
at Friendship Village of the South Hills. She was 95.
Mrs. Holan was preceded in death by her husband Richard (October 20, 2021, age 91), and survived by Mark and Angie (Drobnic) Holan, Washington, DC; Matt and Nancy (Lorentson) Holan, Normal, IL; Mary Beth (Holan) and Todd McAliley, Somerset, PA; Tim and Beatriz (Vallejo) Holan, and Liam and Luke Holan, Houston; and Nora (Holan) and Scott Nelson, Las Vegas, and Joshua and Julia (Yang) Nelson, Washington, DC, Christopher, Mesa, Ariz., and Hannah, Las Vegas.
Mrs. Holan was born August 16, 1930, in Pittsburgh's Hazelwood neighborhood. She was the fifth of six daughters of the late William and Nora Diggin, both early twentieth century immigrants from County Kerry, Ireland. Mrs. Holan's father died a week after the Pearl Harbor attack, when she was 11. The widow and six daughters supported themselves by working in the rectory of the next door St. Stephen Catholic Church and other employment, plus rental income from tenants in the house the couple purchased during the Great Depression.
Mrs. Holan and her sisters attended Sacred Heart Academy in Shadyside. After graduation, she took business courses and worked for several years at the Westinghouse-operated Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory in West Mifflin.
Lenore and Richard were married on July 12, 1958, at St. Stephen. The couple raised their family in Whitehall, where they belonged to St. Gabriel, then St. Elizabeth, parishes. The family vacationed at Cape May, NJ, Cape Cod, MA, and Nags Head, NC. Mrs. Holan also visited her parents' birthplaces in Ireland and made a pilgrimage to Rome.
As their children grew into adulthood, Mr. and Mrs. Holan moved to Alexandria, VA, while he finished his career. The couple returned to Pittsburgh in 1993, first to Mount Lebanon, then to Friendship Village in Upper St. Clair. They visited their children and other travel, including Canada and a California-to-Florida cruise through the Panama Canal.
Mrs. Holan was an avid reader and library volunteer. A devout Catholic, her last parish was St. Thomas More in Bethel Park. She maintained a cheerful and loving spirit even as she drifted into memory loss. The family gratefully acknowledges the excellent care provided by the Friendship Village memory care staff and Gallagher Hospice.
Arrangements by BEINHAUER. Friends received at 8:30 a.m., Tuesday, December 2, 2025, at 2828 Washington Road, McMurray, Pa. A Mass of Christian Burial follows at 10 a.m. at Resurrection Parish, St. Thomas Moore Church. Entombment with her late husband at Queen of Heaven Cemetery.
The family asks that, in lieu of flowers, memorials in her name be made to Catholic Charities of Pittsburgh.
To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of LENORE (DIGGIN), please visit our floral store.
HOLAN
LENORE (DIGGIN)
Lenore (Diggin) Holan, who raised five children and enjoyed five grandchildren during a 63-year marriage, died November 26, 2025,
at Friendship Village of the South Hills. She was 95.
Mrs. Holan was preceded in death by her husband Richard (Octob
Published on November 28, 2025