Winifred Romtvedt Holmes passed away on April 20 at Fairlawn Village in Gresham of congestive heart failure and lung problems.

She was born to Mary Whitney Romtvedt and Fred Romtvedt in Toledo, Oregon on May 29, 1924. She first lived with her parents and five sisters on a dairy farm near Siletz. The farm was on the site of the former Bel-lamy Colony, founded by Wini’s grandfather and other admirers of Edward Bellamy’s utopian novel “Looking Backward.”

Win and her family moved to Vernonia in 1938 to open the Terminal Cafe on Bridge Street. While she was attending high school in Vernonia, she participated in a writing seminar in Portland that helped to spark a career in journalism and a life-long love of writing.

After high school, she worked for the “Vernonia Eagle” newspaper before going to the University of Oregon, where she studied journalism. She also worked on campus pub-lications and wrote for the “Eugene Register-Guard.” With men off fighting in World War II, she was able to take on jobs not ordinarily open to women at the time.

Later, Wini worked for papers in St. Helens and Newport and was a correspondent for “Portland Builder and Engineer.” In 1946, she joined Matrix Table (now Women in Communications) and was active in a Portland chapter. She edited employee newspa-pers for St. Vincent and Providence hospitals and later worked as a secretary for Port-land Public Schools and KPBS.
She loved the outdoors and met her future husband, Paul Holmes, at a Mazamas event. Following a proposal at the summit of Mount Hood, the couple entered into a happy marriage that lasted until Paul’s death in 1997 from Alzhimers.

Gardening was one of Wini’s favorite pastimes. A few days before her death, she re-quested dahlias for her spring garden. She was able to observe the planting at her sis-ter Pat’s Fairlawn cottage on a beautiful sunny day.

Wini was a caring and generous person, willing to provide help to those in need. Even in her final days, she retained her interest in current events and the world around her. She recently asked when her mail-in ballot was coming and probably never missing voting in an election.

Her family was always a priority. She treasured camping trips, travel, family reunions, annual sisters reunions on the coast, and was great at bringing people together and organizing family gatherings and trips. A highlight of her retirement years was a 2001 trip to Norway with sisters Helen and Shirley , brother in law George and daughter Jenny and other cruises with sister Helen.

She joined the Christian Church in high school, and was a member of several church-es in the Portland area: Cedar Hills UCC, First Congregational UCC , Calvary Presby-terian Church and most recently, Cherry Park United Methodist Church.

She is survived by her son Peter Holmes (Annette – Los Angeles) daughter Jenny Holmes (John Ferrell), sisters Patricia Early (Gresham), Shirley Vincent (Port St. Lucie, FL), Helen Johnson (Glendale, CA), Bea Hammond (Siletz, OR), cousins, and many nieces and nephews. In addition to her husband Paul, she was predeceased by her sister Carol Ginter (2011).

All are welcome to her Celebration of Life service on Friday, May 20th at 2:00 p.m., fol-lowed by a reception, at Cherry Park United Methodist, 1736 SE 106th Ave, Portland, OR 97216. A graveside service will be held at Willamette National Cemetery at 11 am on the same day.

In lieu of flowers, remembrances can be made to the American Lung Association, the Mazamas, or Salvation Army Rose Center. For more information, you may call her daughter, Jenny Holmes at 503-281-8175.