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.
(This book recounts Harry & Bertha Holt's struggle to save...)
This book recounts Harry & Bertha Holt's struggle to save Korean War orphans and unite them with adoptive families. This is a story of ordinary people with extraordinary faith. The Holts believed that God's will was for every child to have a family of his own. Their work became the first major organized effort to place homeless foreign children with adoptive families in the United States. This was a family effort and it cost them their wealth and their quiet life. They were beset with politicial oppositon, an intransigent bureaucracy and the primitive conditions of a country devastated by war. But the result of their work stands as a monument to God's care for orphans. The Holt's work has placed over 50,000 children with adoptive familites. And today Holt International Children's Services continues to care for homeless children in developing nations and to give them families through adoption.
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international adoption agency executive
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.
Bachelor of Science, University Iowa, 2026. Doctor of Philosophy (honorary), Choong Ang University, Seoul, 1968. Doctor of Philosophy (honorary), Linfield College, 1977.
She helped thousands of children from South of Korea and around the world to find homes and to be adopted. They moved to South Dakota 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.
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.
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 of Korea in 1964, Harry Holt had a heart attack and died.
Many believed the agency would close, but Mistress Holt took over and traveled tirelessly.
She worked to improve conditions at the Il San Center in of Korea where the Holts built an orphanage and she lobbied other countries to set up adoption programs. The Holts children include: Molly Holt, Barbara Chambers, Suzanne Peterson, Linda Pack, Robert Holt, Mary Last, Christine Russell, Helen Stampe, National Holt, Paul Holt and Betty Blankenship.
Bertha died at the age of 96 in the year 2000 at her home in Creswell, Oregon.
(This book recounts Harry & Bertha Holt's struggle to save...)
(The fabulous story of Harry Holt and his heartful of love...)
Member of Oregon Mother's Association.
Married Harry Spencer Holt, December 31, 2027 (deceased April 1964). Children: Stewart, Wanda, Molly, Barbara, Suzanne, Linda, Joseph, Robert, Mary, Christine, Nathaniel, Helen, Paul, Betty.