Bill Hole has created a lengthy and greatly esteemed career in preservation trades education, activism, advocacy, and support of numerous PTN projects during his seven years as a past Board Member. As a craftsman he has been committed to successful preservation education, which always combined the hands-on training of rising tradespeople with experienced and specialized professionals. 

For more than 17 years, Bill developed, marketed, and shepherded the Historic Preservation and Restoration Technology (HPRT) program at College of the Redwoods (CR), the first Associate of Science degree in HP west of the Mississippi (1995), and the only within the 110 California community colleges, receiving numerous local, California Preservation Foundation, and State Governors’ Preservation Awards. During that era, Bill trained hundreds of eager adult students (and Conservation Corps youth) how to research, to develop building condition assessments based on existing conditions, and then to approach the technical hands-on preservation of historic buildings following rehabilitation Standards and Guidelines with a multitude of courses he created. Students have included local planners, realtors, tradespeople, and homeowners who have learned to apply their skills, knowledge, and resources to become shepherds of historic buildings. Though the program at CR was ultimately terminated (2014), he has left a lasting legacy in the preservation field on the California’s redwood coast. 

In addition to his leadership of the program at CR, Bill has played a vital role in innumerable projects throughout California, like co-development of the Presidio Trust training project (2001-2003) where he provided on site college certified training to 165 Trust and NPS employees (Golden Gate National Recreation Area), which helped to result in a self-sustaining and beautifully preserved National Park property. He also provided on-site workforce training and consultation for the 3-year restoration of Point Cabrillo Light Station (1909), which still serves the maritime community as a U.S. Coast Guard Aid to Navigation 3rd order Fresnel lens lighthouse and as part of the California State Park system that offers short-term rentals in the restored light keepers houses. 

As a mariner and sailor himself, his work history includes the complex restoration of the M.V. Madaket, a 1910, 50-foot wooden passenger ferry (1990), still an active bay tour attraction. This combined using physical evidence with extensive photographic research long before creating HPRT. Additionally, he has been a key steward of Eureka’s historic redwood Victorian Seaport Community, contributing his expertise through the years with the resulting renaissance of the community, an achievement that continues to inspire ongoing preservation efforts. Local building rehabilitation projects are numerous, as the Field School model was a primary focus of hands-on education that works. Many buildings bear his fingerprints.

He assisted the City of Eureka to become a recognized Certified Local Government (CLG) though our SHPO office in Sacramento, which created a historic preservation commission that is instrumental in helping to maintain historic resources within Eureka and to guide property owners with sound preservation advice. Bill has rallied the community, supported by the Eureka Heritage Society (an organization dedicated to the preservation of our buildings and community education). He always encouraged students to become involved in preservation organizations as PTN, NCPE, NPS, Historic Green, and HistoriCorps. He is always available to local homeowners as an informational resource offering up his knowledge and expertise to educate, encourage, and motivate historic homeowners to do the right thing maintaining and restoring their structures, especially his favorite aspect, their redwood windows.