Marvin Richard Holstein

A Celebration of Life will be held on Friday, July 13, 2018, at 3:00 p.m. at Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church, 9800 SE 92nd, Happy Valley, OR 97086. Marv is survived by his wife, Loretta Muralt Holstein of 55 years; four children, Daniel (married to Allison), Tony, Heidi, and Timothy (married to Mindi); seven grandchildren: Tobias, Peyton, Isaac, Isaiah, Sarah, Maximus, & Santino; and one brother, Gilbert. He has many nephews, nieces, and cousins. Marv was preceded in death by his parents, Arnim and Tillie Holstein. Marv was raised in Plainview, NE and attended Zion Lutheran School. He continued his education at Plainview High School as a freshman where he enjoyed playing basketball, and participated in some track events. He was also a high school sports editor for the Plainview News. He was in a one act play, but that was the extent of his acting career! The education he received provided a good foundation and memorable experiences. After graduation, he attended Concordia Jr. College in St. Paul, MN in Sept. 1951 where his family relocated. In 1953 he graduated, and took a teaching position in Atchison, Kansas at Trinity Lutheran Elementary School where he taught grades 5-6 for 1 yr. Then he returned to his family in St. Paul where he worked for two years, in a department store and had several other short term positions, one in a financial office as a collections officer and another one working in a warehouse. His brother, Gilbert, completed his Jr. College program at Concordia in 1956 after which the family moved to Sioux City, Iowa, where his Dad worked in the Lutheran Hospital as the purchasing agent. During that summer, his family enjoyed a 6 week trip to Oregon and California visiting relatives. Little did he know that the girl he would marry was in Oregon, in the very town where his Aunt Clara Krebs lived who was married to his future wife’s Uncle, Arthur Krebs. In the fall of 1956 he enrolled at Concordia College in Seward, NE. After his junior year in 1957, he went to Waterloo, Iowa as a 5-6 grade teacher at Immanuel Lutheran School for one year. His Uncle, Pastor Sylvester Holstein, in Sioux City, Iowa offered him an opportunity to teach at the Central Lutheran School. He accepted and taught grades 3-4 for the next two years. He attended Morningside College during the summers and evenings, and received his BA degree in 1960. He also became principal of Central Lutheran in 1960, and taught grades 5-6 as well for the next three years. In June of 1962 his Mother and he traveled nonstop to Sherwood, Oregon to meet Loretta Muralt, who became his wife a year later on June 22, 1963. She was playing the organ at the Imperial Skating Rink in Portland, and came home that night and they met in her parent’s home for the first time. Their mutual Aunt Clara had played cupid, and it worked! He moved to Portland, OR in June 1963 and accepted a position as principal and 7-8 grade teacher at Martin Luther School, in Portland, OR. Then in 1964 he moved to the Beaverton School District where he taught for five years, and then was offered an elementary principalship in 1969. He received his MS degree at Portland State University in 1970, which was followed by additional graduate studies. He continued as an elementary school principal for the next 24 years working in a total of four schools until he retired in 1993, after 37 years in education. His wife, Loretta, continued playing professionally, a career she began when she was 20 years old. She played the organ, piano, and keyboard and later retired as organist at Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church in Portland. She had given concerts, made recordings, and was known in the area for her music. It was something she loved and wanted to share with others. Marv was a total support for her! One of Marv’s passions was sports. In general, there was no encyclopedia needed. He knew about the sport and who the players were. Marv’s favorite pastime was playing golf as well as being one of the biggest Nebraska Cornhuskers fans on the west coast. He rarely missed watching a Cornhusker football game with his family and kids. His excitement was peaked when he had the opportunity to go with his wife and his son, Tim and future daughter in law Mindi, to watch his first Nebraska game against USC, played at Memorial Stadium.Sports must have been in his blood, because his father, Arnim had the opportunity at the age of 18 to go play for the Chicago White Sox as a pitcher. Due to the baseball scandal back in that day, Arnim’s father did not want him to choose this as his life’s path and so Marv’s Dad missed that once in a life time opportunity and regretted it his entire life. Marv and his wife Loretta were also a fixture for 18 years at The Pacific Amateur Golf Classic in Central Oregon, where they came to watch their sons, Tony & Tim play. The players that participated were always happy to see the couple arrive year after year. Marv wasn’t just a sports spectator. Throughout his marriage he would go to the club and exercise. His oldest son Dan recalls many fond memories of early morning runs with his Dad at the track. With all of the sports and other activities that his four kids were involved with, Marv always did his best to be at their games, events and concerts. Marv and his wife enjoyed traveling on a cruise to Alaska; a month in Desert Hot Springs, CA; a visit to Phoenix, AZ; a trip to Maui and one to Canada; a dream trip for their 50th wedding anniversary to Kauai given to them by their children and their families. Their last trip to NY, Boston, and Washington, D.C. in Oct. 2016 was a surprise for his wife’s 80th birthday. In March 2017, Marv had open heart surgery and had his mitral valve replaced. The surgery was successful, but his heart had gotten too large and it couldn’t push the blood through efficiently, so he got congestive heart failure. He had many procedures to try to help his heart, and never complained about the pain or all that he went through, including cardioversions, an AV node ablation, and pacemaker. On Jan. 3rd of this year, Jesus blessed Marv with a miracle by helping him survive three cardiac arrests; the first being at home where his wife administered CPR following the instructions of the 911 Operator; then later, two more times in the ER at St. Vincent’s Hospital. The doctors agreed it was a miracle! After this his pacemaker was replaced with an ICD, which is an implanted defibrillator. Marv was an intelligent, kind, caring, patient, humble and wise man. He never raised his voice to his four children, and he treated his wife with deep love and respect. He went home to be with Jesus on July 3rd. His family is looking forward to the time that they will all be reunited with him, because that is the hope they have in the promise of their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.