Obituary of Martha Lucille Holm

Martha Lucille Holm was born October 26th, 1930 to Harold and Laura Hare in Kingsley, Michigan. Martha grew up in the depression, she moved around southern Michigan until 1943 when she moved to Royal Oak, Michigan, where she lived until she graduated high school in 1948. Martha attended Graceland University in Lamoni, Iowa graduating in 1952. While attending college Martha met her future husband, Stanley Holm, becoming engaged in 1951. Stanley and Martha were married in 1952. In 1953 they moved to Heppner, Oregon for Stanley to become a teacher. While in Heppner Beverly and Ron Holm were born. They moved to Maupin, Oregon, and then later to Portland, Oregon in 1963 where their youngest son James was born. Martha attended Portland State University graduating in 1967. After graduating Martha became a teacher and librarian for 23 years in the Centennial District, retiring in 1989. Throughout her life she enjoyed spending time with family and friends. She loved traveling and especially enjoyed the family cabin in the Blue Mountains. Martha loved volunteering for several school libraries around Gresham. She was an active member of Daughters of the American Revolution. Martha was preceded in death by Husband Stanley Holm Jr. of Gresham, OR, Daughter Beverly Lees of Framingham, MA, her parents Harold and Laura Hare of Michigan, her Brother Robert Hare of Otsego, MI and her granddaughter Justine Holm of Portland, OR. She is lovingly remembered by: Her son Ron Holm and daughter-in-law Kathy Holm of Portland, OR, her son James Holm of Beaverton, OR, and son-in-law Brian Lees of Framingham, MA. Her seven grandchildren: Kristi and Joseph Shorr of York, PA, David and Christina Holm of Portland, OR, Andrew Lees of Framingham, MA, Daniel Holm of Gresham, OR, Brenda and Molloy Schaener of Milwaukee, OR, and Jason and Brandon Holm of Beaverton, OR. Also six great-grandchildren Vivian and Evelyn Holm (David), Mia and Damien Holm (Daniel), and William and Katherine Shorr (Kristi) as well as many other relatives and friends. From Kristi Shores; Our beloved Grammy, Martha Lucille Hare Holm was born in Kingsley, Michigan, in October 1930 and she died in Portland, Oregon, in January 2022. While those two facts don’t sound extraordinary, it was what she did with the 91 years in between that made her truly extraordinary. She didn’t come from a lot. I know she spent a lot of time with family on the farm in Michigan. She spent much of her teenage years living in a small trailer with her mom and brother, Bob. She once told me that when she decided that she wanted to go to college, being able to go was only possible because her pastor’s wife loaned her a small sum of money to start the process. When she graduated, her pastor’s wife forgave the debt as a gift. What was probably small to one person was a huge thing to my Grammy. She spent the rest of her life trying to pay that forward to others in need as she was able. She met our Papa at Graceland Junior College. When she agreed to marry him one Sunday while out for a drive in a borrowed car, he was so excited that he stopped the next car to pass to gleefully announce to a stranger that they were engaged to be married. Grammy was just the type of person you wanted to be around. Some of my favorite memories are just of her rocking me on the loveseat at the cabin, with my head on her lap, long after I was too big to sit on her lap anymore. She’d just rock me and play with my hair, and I never wanted the moment to end. Grammy married Papa while he was still finishing school to become a teacher. Then they moved so far away from her home so he could teach in a tiny town in Oregon, Heppner. It was there that they welcomed my mother, Beverly. I marvel at the pictures of Grammy from that time. She looked so young to me, with a tiny version of my mom in her arms. A few years later, Uncle Ron was born in Heppner, as well. I found a Christmas card from when she had two small children in Heppner. She said, “Stan and Bevy are pasting stamps on the envelopes and Ronnie is getting into everything.” They later moved to Maupin and eventually to Portland. There, she went back to school to become a teacher herself. Uncle James came along, and their little family was complete, for the moment. Grammy became an elementary teacher, and then a school librarian. I remember my excitement of getting to visit her library at school when we visited for Christmas. When my mom was a teeanger, her friends thought that Grammy was a pretty cool and kind mom. They still speak well of her all these years later. Grammy and Papa opened their home to many young people over the years. Sometimes, it was a friend that needed a safe place to stay. Other times, it was an exchange student here to study in the U.S. Everyone felt welcome in her home. It was the little things that always made a difference. She used to clean out a drawer or two for me to keep my things in when I visited. She also used to make sure to have my favorite foods, like strawberry Pop-Tarts, and stored them in a cabinet I could reach when I was little. It is easy to feel welcome when there’s space made just for you. Her home in Portland, and the cabin on Black Mountain were always my safe places, the places I wished to be. I seriously considered going to college in Portland just to be near Grammy and Papa. Grammy always worked hard to keep her space organized. I often marveled at the fact that her sense of “messy” was what I called very clean. She sometimes got a bit aggressive, you might say, about cleaning things like counters. When she and Papa stayed with my family for 3 months in 1989, we joked whenever something went missing that Grammy must have thrown it away. Sometimes, when I look around my very messy house, I wish just a bit of that cleanliness would’ve been passed down to me. Ha ha! Grammy loved children. Teaching made sense for her. I always remember her mothering all us grandkids. My brother and I were lucky to spend large parts of the summers with Grammy and Papa. She never objected to having us visit for four, six, or eight weeks over the summer; it made up for not seeing us the rest of year since we lived so far away. She was just glad to have us. She’d then invite our cousins to come stay, too, and then she’d have a house full of noise and love. They’d take us to the cabin and then shoo us out to run around in the woods, playing Oregon Trail and building dams. She’d fuss at us for being SO NOISY and tracking in mud, but she was also the one to make sure we ate a good meal and got a bath every so often and wore our helmets when Papa took us on Honda rides. As her family grew, she had seven grandkids to watch over, and then 6 great-grandchildren, too. I regret that she wasn’t able to travel anymore by the time my two kids were born, because she didn’t get to see my son much and never met her youngest great-granddaughter. In her last few years, one of her favorite things was to look at pictures of us when we were little kids. Her love of kids was one of the last things taken from her. Grammy was always a huge proponent of education. She encouraged us kids to study hard and did what she could to make continuing education easier. She knew what a difference education could make for your prospects in life and that was why she always pushed us so much: she wanted the best for us. One of her favorite activities after she retired was to trace our ancestry. I don’t even remember just how many times we went on little journeys when she visited to see the places our ancestors had lived or to visit obscure libraries to find records of long-lost family. I learned how to use a photocopier making copies for Grammy and Mom at the historical society. They wanted a LOT of copies. She even went so far as to visit places in England where her ancestors had lived, trying to learn more. You can’t have known her well and not heard all about Old Hall and Baby Harry’s chest! There’s lots to miss about our Grammy. Her kindness. Her generosity. The way she loved us completely, full stop. She was such an important part of our lives. She loved us freely. She missed us when we weren’t there. She encouraged us in our endeavors. She used her years well. I only hope I can use mine as well as she did. We love you and will miss you, Grammy.