Pamela Howland Holmes Bergen

Pamela Howland Holmes Bergen formerly of McMinnville and Dundee and most recently Mary Woods in Lake Oswego passed away peacefully on April 30, 2025, at the age of 93 surrounded by family.

Born in 1931 in New York City, Pamela spent her early years on the bustling Upper East Side of Manhattan with her parents, Marcella Chalkley Holmes and John Burt Holmes, and her sister, Mary Burt Holmes Blume. They spent summers on Long Island and delighted in sailing on the Great South Bay. She attended the Nightingale Bamford School and pursued higher education at Wheaton College and Columbia University before working at Time-Life Publishing.

In 1955, Pamela married Philip Norton Bergen at the Church of the Heavenly Rest in Manhattan. They met working at the Blue Hill Troupe, a theatre group in the Murry Hill section of Manhattan, known for producing Gilbert and Sullivan plays. The couple eventually settled in Demarest, New Jersey, where they raised four children. A lifelong Democrat, she was active in the local library, a lifetime member of the League of Women Voters, a Girl Scout leader and a founder of the Davis Arboretum in Demarest. In addition to her community involvement, she always maintained a steady presence in her children’s lives.

In 1990, Pamela and Phil relocated to McMinnville, Oregon where she delighted in working as a volunteer at the McMinnville Library and where she forged many lasting friendships. She also spent several years auditing classes in history and literature at Linfield College in McMinnville .

Reading was one of the great joys of Pamela’s life. A voracious and thoughtful reader, she derived deep intellectual and emotional fulfillment from literature. Her decades-long book club with dear friends Martha and Diane was a source of constant inspiration and delight. Together, they explored a vast literary canon—from Homer and Thucydides to Jane Austen, Virginia Woolf, and Proust. In addition to reading, Pamela found peace and purpose in gardening, cooking and most especially spending time with her grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Having been raised in the Episcopal Church, after moving to Oregon, she returned to the Unitarianism of her mother’s family, playing a pivotal role in establishing a Unitarian parish in Yamhill County. Pamela descended from a long line of Unitarians, including her great-grandfather, Clarke Howland, a Unitarian minister and her great, great aunt Olympia Brown the first woman ordained as a minister with full denominational authority in the United States, reflecting her enduring commitment to her faith and community.

Pamela is survived by her sister, Mary Burt Blume; her children, Pieter, David, Andrew, Julia, and Anne; her granddaughters, Robin, Mimi, Sadie, Miina, Juliana, and Katie; and her great-granddaughters, Eleanor and Frances and nieces, Pamela, Kate and Elizabeth Baldwin and nephew Geoff Bergen.

In lieu of flowers please make gifts in her name to Linfield College, McMinnville, Oregon. 

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