Friends and students mourn Palm Springs’ Andy Hollinger, an avid hiker and retired teacher

Andy Hollinger died doing something he loved: taking a Saturday morning hike in Palm Springs. He was 73.

Community members remembered him for his love of hiking, nature and art, as well as his time as an art teacher and coach at Palm Springs High School.

“We went through every emotion I can think of and it’s just heartbreaking,” said one friend, Debbie Miller. “I still just can’t believe it. He was so full of life.”

Miller, Tracy Mitchell and Kathleen Miller went on hundreds of hikes with Hollinger, and Debbie Miller’s husband Matt Miller hiked with him almost every morning. Hollinger was a volunteer ranger for Oswit Land Trust, according to the women.

She said the group of women and Hollinger made a good team. He would share his knowledge of nature on their hikes together and they would compete to see who could get better photos of bighorn sheep.

“What Andy, really, really excelled at is capturing the beauty of the world through his lens,” Miller said. “That guy could photograph anything, anywhere, edit it and make you feel like you were part of the experience with him. Whether it was the sheep, whether it was landscape, whether it was the cactus blooming.”

Kathleen Miller said Hollinger was the king of friendships and loved having people around him. He would host Taco Tuesdays at his house every week.

"He was surrounded by love and friends," she said. "Truly an amazing, outgoing, loving, would give the shirt off his back kind of a guy."

Palm Springs police said it wasn't yet clear why Hollinger died, but they were investigating whether he had a medical emergency.

Mitchell was supposed to meet Hollinger on the Skyline Trail on Saturday morning. But she got there early and went ahead because she wanted photos of the sunrise.

She thought it was odd when he didn’t show up, but saw his truck when she went back to her car. Mitchell called him to say she’d pick him up at the other end of the trail and show him her photos. She said she never would’ve thought that the fire trucks were there for him.

“I feel like I can text him and say ‘Hey, where are you hiking tomorrow?’” Mitchell said.

Fittingly, the Skyline Trail has a sign dedicated to Hollinger’s father, John Hollinger, who was a founding member of the Palm Springs Mounted Police, the same unit that helped bring him off the trail when he was found unresponsive.

A beloved art teacher and coach

Becky Patterson first knew Hollinger as a volleyball coach in high school and was later his coworker in the school's art department for five years. She said students saw it as a big deal to be on his team, which had strong seasons. He was going to be inducted into the Palm Springs High School Athletic Hall of Fame next month.

Hollinger was skilled at getting players to work together and become better athletes, Patterson said. She learned from him even though she never played on his varsity team because he retired before she made it.

Years later, Patterson said, she spoke with Hollinger at a Palm Springs High football game when she had moved back to the desert and asked him if there were any art teaching openings. There weren’t at the time, but he called her the next spring to ask her to interview.

“Being back in the desert and back at my alma mater, it was good to have a seasoned teacher there who I could go to and just be like, ‘Hey, how does this work?’... it was good to just have somebody that I could talk to and rely on if I needed help,” Patterson said.

She said his death was a shock.

“Just thought he’d live till he was like 110,” she said. “That’s like the kind of guy that he was. He was not sedentary, he was very active and involved in the community.”

Amanda Pierceall, a graphic designer, took 3D Design with Hollinger. She said she had to fight with her counselor, who thought she should take AP Biology, to take that class. She had class with him in junior and senior year, and was one of his teacher assistants in senior year.

“I'd have to say that his class was really influential on my continuing with art and going into art as a career and he was very, very influential on me and probably a lot of other kids in his class,” she said.

She said he was a fun teacher, gregarious with a “big, deep, boisterous voice.” Students always felt he wanted to be there and so they wanted to be there too, she added. He encouraged students to enter contests and apply for scholarships, and scholarships ended up helping pay for Pierceall’s degree.

She recalled how Hollinger would spend the school year in Palm Springs and then go to different parts of the country to work as a hiking guide during the hotter months. She said he was a talented gourd artist and she even saw his gourds for sale in a gallery in Wyoming.

“It was very sad to hear (of his death), but then also at the same time ... if there was any way that he was gonna go, it was hiking,” she said. “Because he loved hiking — that was something he was very passionate about.”

Hiking with him was a bonus

Mitchell, Debbie Miller and Kathleen Miller called Hollinger a dear friend, and said hiking with him was a bonus.

“Our favorite memories would be just picking on him,” Mitchell said. “Just laughing, just non-stop laughing.”

Hollinger’s wife, Taina Hollinger, died several years ago and she was also an avid hiker. Miller said there is a sign on the Shannon Trail in Taina's memory, and the three women are planning to get one for Andy next to hers.

“He always told us to make sure that we got a plaque and put it there with his wife. And we would laugh and tell him, well, ‘We're not going to do that unless you're paying for it, so you better get it ready,’” Mitchell said.

“He liked everything so organized and prepared that we thought he might have already had it done,” Miller added. “Tell us where to put it.”

Kathleen Miller said Hollinger will be remembered for his kindness and willingness to help out in any situation. She recalled how many past students wrote to him to say he gave them direction and they wouldn't be who they are if they hadn't known him.

"He pushed people to show them that they had the potential and the ability, and that truly just (made) him such a remarkable, caring person ... He wanted to bring out the best in a person and show them what they're made of," she said.

Ani Gasparyan covers the western Coachella Valley cities of Desert Hot Springs and Cathedral City. Reach her at ani.gasparyan@desertsun.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Friends and students mourn Palm Springs hiker, teacher Andy Hollinger