Bertha Marian Holt (February 5, 1904 – 2000) founded the

Holt International Children's Services Holt International Children's Services (HICS) is a faith-based humanitarian organization and adoption agency based in Eugene, Oregon, United States, known for international adoption and child welfare. The nonprofit works in thirteen countries, ...

organization and fought to have the law changed in America to allow for more than two international adoptions.

Background

Bertha Marian Holt was born on February 5, 1904, in Des Moines, Iowa to Clifford and Eva Holt. Her father was a school teacher and a

mail carrier A mail carrier, mailman, mailwoman, postal carrier, postman, postwoman, or letter carrier (in American English), sometimes colloquially known as a postie (in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom), is an employee of a post ...

. She received her nursing degree in 1926 and married a cousin, Harry Holt, on December 31, 1927. They moved to

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large porti ...

where they were “custom farmers” which meant they worked the land owned by others until they could save for their own land. During the Depression, they had to leave their farm and move to Willamette Valley in Oregon. They prospered in Oregon, eventually owning a lumber mill.

Adoptions

In 1954, Bertha, a nurse, and her husband, a farmer, and lumberjack, went to a high school auditorium in Eugene, Oregon, to watch a film about children in Amerasian

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

orphanages An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or a ...

. The Holts started to send money to South Korean orphanages but soon decided to do more. They both wanted to adopt eight children but kept this idea to themselves because they figured the other spouse would think this was too many. Federal law at the time didn't allow any family to adopt more than two foreign born children. In 1955, Congress passed the Bill for Relief of Certain War Orphans, specifically so that the Holt family could adopt eight children. They adopted four boys and four girls ranging in age from babies to three and a half.

Agency creation

In 1956, the Holts founded the Holt International Children's Services. There was no system in place at the time for international adoptions. Grandma Holt, as she was known, continued to be active in the agency until the day she died. While in South Korea in 1964, Harry Holt had a heart attack and died. Many believed the agency would close, but Mrs. Holt took over and traveled tirelessly. She worked to improve conditions at the Il San Center in Korea where the Holts built an orphanage and she lobbied other countries to set up adoption programs.

Family life

The Holts children include Molly Holt, Barbara Chambers, Suzanne Peterson, Linda Pack, Robert Holt, Mary Last, Christine Russell, Helen Stampe, Nat Holt, Paul Holt, and Betty Blankenship. She had three sisters, Beulah Stronczek, Katherine Stanger and Grace Fisher; a brother, William L. Holt; 19 grandchildren, and 12 great-grandchildren at the time of her death.

Awards

*2002, induction into the National Women's Hall of FameNational Women's Hall of Fame, Bertha Holt
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Death

Bertha died at the age of 96 in the year 2000 at her home in

Creswell, Oregon Creswell is a city in the Willamette Valley of Lane County, Oregon, United States, located south of Eugene, Oregon. The population at the 2010 census was 5,031. History The first store opened at Creswell in 1872, and a town sprang up around it ...

Books

*''The Seed From The East'' by Bertha Holt and David Wisner *''Bring My Sons From Afar: The unfolding of Harry Holt's dream'' by Bertha Holt *''Created for God's Glory'' by Bertha Holt

References

External links

The Legacy of Bertha "Grandma" Holt
Holt International {{DEFAULTSORT:Holt, Bertha 1904 births 2000 deaths American nurses American women nurses People from Des Moines, Iowa People from Creswell, Oregon 20th-century American women 20th-century American people