Grace Elizabeth Holsinger Pike passed peacefully from this life on Dec. 26, 2025 into the loving arms of her Savior, Jesus Christ at the age of 97.
Born to Elmer Leroy and Agnes Blanchard Holsinger on Jan. 2, 1928, Grace was the youngest of their nine children. Elmer and Agnes were missionaries to Native Americans on reservations in Wyoming and Colorado. As a young child, Grace had the care and attention of not only her parents, but also her eight brothers and sisters. She loved her life. On these reservations she learned about the customs and beliefs of the Sioux and Ute nations, while her parents taught them about the God who created them and the gospel of His Son, Jesus Christ. Life was simpler then and during her youth, Grace was free to wander the countryside without fear, enjoying God’s creation. She grew up learning to love her country and the beautiful creations of nature. This love of country developed in her a desire to travel.
In her teens her family moved to Northern California, where her father pastored various churches. It was while she lived there that she met, fell in love with and married Albert Willard Pike. They made their living in Southern California, where they raised their four children. Al, too, had this wanderlust, this desire to travel and instilled this desire in their children. Together the family traveled all over the United States, reconnecting with aunts, uncles and cousins they did not get to see often. They camped out at national parks and stopped at every historical monument along the way. They made trips from the West Coast to the East Coast, Canada and Mexico. The family really enjoyed these times of traveling together. Dad’s job as a customs house broker and Mom’s as a clerk for the state of California provided the necessary funds to make these trips possible. Besides working full time, Grace spent her after-work hours being involved with her children’s education. She attended all of their events and programs and was an integral part of the parent-teacher groups at their schools. She also participated in their Boy Scout and Girl Scout activities. She made sure they were getting a well-rounded education. The children all became intelligent, responsible and patriotic citizens. Both boys were in the military (Air Force and Navy) and the girls worked as teachers of migrant students and recruiters of doctors for a large hospital. They were also involved in their respective church families.
Al and Grace had done well raising their children and were very proud of them. When the children married, moved away and started their own lives, Al and Grace continued to develop their love of travel. After retirement they moved to Oregon to own and manage their own businesses, a motel in Southern Oregon and a small store and restaurant business as well. When they finally quit working full time, they traveled all over the western United States working in national parks: Yellowstone, Mesquite, Nev., Death Valley and Sequoia. They loved their life traveling around. As their age and health issues began to take a toll on them, they settled in Hermiston and had lived here for more than 20 years. They still continued to work as long as they could at various jobs, still taking trips to see friends and relatives until they could no longer drive. They took a trip to see their son, Larry in Virginia; Pat and Al shared driving responsibilities.
After Al passed in 2013, Grace still wanted to travel as much as possible. She took a few bus trips for long weekends with a friend. She and Pat traveled one more time to Virginia to see Larry. Grace took two trips to Alaska, even riding a float plane (which did not impress her). She and Pat spent a lot of time together, taking many day trips to hunt for wild flowers, as well as weekend getaways to Klamath Falls and Spokane to see Wanda and Marty and Portland to see Dad’s sisters and brothers. They also went to Leavenworth, Wash. numerous times. Grace was still quite the traveler. Eventually she developed dementia and her legs and body weakened, slowing down her travels. During this time she spent her time reading her Bible and other books, doing crosswords, watching the news and playing board games with Pat every day. But she never lost her desire to see the country. Even up to the time of her death she was still talking about wanting to travel all the way to Canada or across the USA.
Grace lived a long and fruitful life. Those who passed before her were her parents, all of her siblings, her husband, Al and her oldest son, Larry.
She is survived by her daughter, Pat and husband Doug; daughter, Wanda and her husband Dennis; her son, Martin and his wife Denise; seven grandchildren; 15 great-grandchildren; and nine great-great grandchildren. Her life indeed was fully lived.
A celebration of life will be held at 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 22, 2026 at Cornerstone Baptist Church, 193 E. Main St., Hermiston.
