My Name is Life - Holt International

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Halmoni: Beloved Grandma Left: Wearing a traditional Korean hanbok, Bertha Holt posed for this portrait taken for her 80th birthday in 1984. Top: Bertha was named the American Mother of the Year in 1966. At the official presentation in Washington, DC, she sat at the head table with then U.S. Vice President Hubert Humphrey. Center: Bertha set a world record for her age group in the 400 meter run in 1996 when she competed in the Masters Track and Field Championships held in Eugene, Oregon. Sometimes known as “the running grandma,” Bertha ran and later walked to stay in condition. She was walking a mile when she had a stroke that led to her death. Her children later completed that mile for her. Bottom, from right: Bertha greets husband Harry when he returned from Korea with their eight new adoptive children, October 1955. She made each child feel special. Arriving at the Ilsan Center in Korea in 1968, Bertha greets every child in care. Bertha enjoyed traveling to see the children, and she kept meticulous records of every flight in logs signed by the pilots. At age 90 Bertha traveled to India, where a recently built childcare center had been named “Bertha Verada” (Bertha’s Blessing) in her honor. In this photo, taken on that same trip, she holds a child in care at Holt’s partner agency in Bangalore. Bertha, with hair in her signature French braids, poses with some of the early Holt-Korea staff including David Kim at the far left, circa 1959. She was simply “Grandma” to thousands of children who were adopted through Holt International, to all of the adoptive families including birth children, and especially to thousands of children who waited and hoped to be adopted. Bertha studied to be a nurse, but she put that aside to raise her six children and blaze a trail to Oregon, where she helped farm, raise cattle, and do the multitude of tasks required of a farmer’s wife. When Harry was struck down by a heart attack, Bertha joined him in praying for his recovery with a promise to serve God in whatever way He showed them. She and Harry were keepers of promises. When the time came to mobilize efforts to adopt children on a large scale, she rose to the occasion, proving that beneath the Excerpt of a July 1999 letter from Bertha Holt to Holt families: simple farmer’s wife appearance, she was every bit as capable and committed as her husband. When Harry died in 1964, Bertha had the grace and courage to continue the work. Over the next 36 years Bertha’s faith inspired the growth and development of Holt International. She never took a back seat. By the time she, too, passed away, Bertha had been named “Mother of the Year,” logged more than a million flight miles traveling for Holt International and advocating for homeless and disabled children, and set a world record for her age group in the 400 meter run. But the title she held dearest to her heart was Halmoni, grandmother in Korean. She should also be remembered as Bunica in Romania, Lola in the Philippines, Bà Ngoai in Vietnam, and Khun Yai in Thailand, and other designations of grandma. The highlight of the trip to Korea was my visit to the Blue House to see Korea’s first lady, the wife of President Kim, Dae-jung. Her name is Lee, He-ho. Molly and David Kim accompanied me. She was most gracious. She sorrowed that so many babies were leaving the country and felt strongly that Koreans should adopt Korean children. I agreed, but I pointed out that Korea’s culture does not yet favor adoption except of a relative. It is a predicament which hurts innocent children. I pleaded that the babies not be raised in orphanages because every child needs a father and a mother. I am happy God allowed me to make this trip to Korea. I so enjoyed seeing Molly, the workers, Pastor Lee, the residents, Holt- Korea’s staff and Korea’s first lady. I pray that God uses this to His glory. Lovingly, Grandma Bertha Marian Holt B. 1904—Des Moines, Iowa D. 2000—Creswell, Oregon 10 50th Anniversary 2006 www.holtinternational.org 11
Adopting from Korea in the Early Years Olivia Wassmann and her husband were in Korea to adopt two little girls on the day Harry Holt died. Fred and I had already adopted four children, three from Korea, when the foreign adoption law was renewed. This allowed us to adopt two more Korean orphans if we traveled to Korea. We applied for two girls and flew to Korea on a chartered Flying Tigers airplane with a planeload of expectant parents in April 1964. When we arrived, we and the other parents were shown to a large room where we placed our sleeping bags on the hard floor. The parents who were adopting older children were allowed to bring in their children to sleep with them. Mr. Holt had taken children back to the orphanage, run up the hill with an emaciated baby and put her into someone’s hands, and then staggered to his room. He didn’t quite make it to his bed. An enormous mourning arose among the staff, the children, and the parents. Quite some time went by before phone communication could be made with Mrs. Holt in the United States. One of the Korean craftsmen immediately began work on a coffin. Mr. Holt previously had said, “If anything happens to me, bury me on the hillside with my babies.” Mrs. Holt arrived as soon as she could. After a funeral service in the chapel, we all followed in line to the burial site. Molly: “Unee” Before Harry and Bertha Holt decided to adopt, Bertha phoned her 19-year-old daughter Molly at nursing school to tell her about the orphaned children in Korea. “I can’t do anything to help now; but when I finish training in two years... if it’s the Lord’s will... I’ll go over to Korea and help take care of those babies,” Molly responded. “As I placed the phone back on the hook, I felt wonderfully blessed,” Bertha wrote a year later. “I knew Molly would be unable to send money. She... was living on her savings. But somehow, I felt that Molly was making the biggest contribution of all.” Prophetic words: Over nearly all of the past 50 years Molly has fulfilled her promise. She has served in many capacities from community health nurse, to internationally known advocate of disabled children and adoptees. Today, she serves as chair of the Holt-Korea Board of Directors. But she continues to be most passionate about the disabled residents of Holt’s Ilsan Center. At age 70, Molly is “unee” (elder sister) to the 300 residents at Ilsan Center where she lives and serves. The residents have lost their families and have varying degrees of disability. Since her mother’s passing, Ilsan residents treat her more like their parent, their family. Molly champions opportunities for the Ilsan residents, and Holt- Korea’s commitment to them is evidenced by a world-class facility that offers education, vocational training and skill building toward independent living. Molly even helps arrange weddings for them when they come of age. Many days, you’ll find Molly, tool kit in hand, making rounds of the children’s apartments. Through her efforts, many residents have wheelchairs that correct their posture and hold them in positions that allow them to develop more control over their bodies. Because residents change and grow, the chairs need constant readjustment to fit properly, but the readjustments also serve as a way for Molly to monitor residents’ development. The next morning we were taken up the hill to see our 10-month-old baby, Debbie, a tiny infant who looked about 2 months old. The other baby assigned to us was in the hospital with a spot on her lungs, unable to pass through Immigration, so we were told to select another child. This was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. A 3-year-old came running up and threw her arms around my legs, so I said to Mr. Holt, “Should we take this little girl?” He said, “That’s up to you, but it’s the infants that we lose. Our hillsides are dotted with baby graves.” My husband and I started down the long aisle of cribs where the infants were propped up in little seats. Down the aisle we went, looking into each little face, in total confusion. Then, one 6-month-old baby smiled a crooked smile at us, and I said, “We’ll take this one!” So that’s how our Donna entered our family. What a way to make such a life-changing decision, but it was a good choice. The Death of Harry Holt On our second day at the orphanage, we were told that Mr. Holt would be driving a van into Seoul and we parents could ride with him to the Holt office there, from which we could take sightseeing tours. Parents piled into the van, and off we went. About halfway to Seoul a tire blew on the van, and with substantial effort Mr. Holt (and probably a helper) changed the tire. We later wondered if this contributed to his heart attack. We made it to the Seoul office and waited for a tour bus, meanwhile watching as tiny abandoned infants were carried in. After a full day of sightseeing we and other parents returned to the Seoul office and waited for the orphanage van to pick us up again. After a long wait we heard a loud commotion from the office staff, who told us, “We have just been notified that Mr. Holt is dead!” What an unbelievable shock! Later we were picked up and returned to the orphanage. We were told that after dropping us at the Holt office, Our Children Donna was 6 months old and Debbie 10 months, but they each weighed exactly 10 pounds. Debbie was so emaciated that when we got off the plane in Detroit we immediately went to our family doctor’s office. We knew any little germ could end her life. Our doctor looked at her and said, “Only a miracle will save this baby.” He turned her over to give her a shot in her little butt, and there was only a bone with loose skin hanging onto it. In the ensuing days, I laughed and talked with Debbie as I held her and fed her. She tried to reach for my face, but her little hands dropped weakly back when halfway up. She kept trying to turn her head backwards to see to whom I was talking. On the third day the reality hit her that I was talking to her, and she immediately began to eat like a little piggy—life was suddenly worth living. Both babies picked up rapidly and became a tremendous joy to us. All our children are well and successful. I am grateful—so very, very grateful. —Olivia Wassmann, Clinton Township, Michigan January 2005 Left: Molly Holt at Ilsan, 1973. Harry Holt built the Ilsan Center in the early 1960s as a temporary home for orphaned and abandoned children soon to be placed with adoptive parents. But within a few years the facility had evolved into a home for disabled children, most of whom could not be adopted. In the 1980s Ilsan was completely remodeled to accommodate and serve those in wheelchairs and on crutches. Today, Molly Holt and a dedicated Holt-Korea staff, care for and train 300 disabled residents at Ilsan. Facing page: This sequence of images comes from the documentary Korean Legacy, a film which followed a group of adoptive parents including Olivia and Fred Wassmann who traveled to Korea in April 1964. The filmmakers had planned to document the work of Harry Holt and international adoption. The crew filmed the initial interactions of the parents with their adoptive children, their trip into Seoul in the back of a truck driven by Harry Holt, and their arrival at the Holt Office in Seoul. In the final frame shown here, Harry Holt can be seen rounding the front of the truck. Later that day, the filmmakers captured the shock and grief of staff and the adoptive parents in the Seoul office when they learned that after transporting a sick child back to Ilsan, Harry Holt had died from a massive heart attack. Korean Legacy became a tribute not only to the spirit of adoption, but also a memorial to the man who dedicated the final years of his life to saving abandoned and vulnerable children. 12 50th Anniversary 2006 www.holtinternational.org 13
Page 1 and 2: My Name is Life Many call me “Orp
Page 3 and 4: The Holt Story Harry and Bertha Hol
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Page 11 and 12: “At KBF, we believe that the fami
Page 13 and 14: Romania A steadfast role in improvi
Page 15 and 16: Mongolia After the abrupt dissoluti

My Name is Life - Holt International

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