Henry Theodore Bergh by Dixie Plata – Pathfinder Historian
Our friend Elder Bergh – we called him Uncle Henry – because I was raised to call pastors by their last not first names… was a special man of God. He and his wife Aunt Miriam became good friends and travel buddies to numerous Pathfinder events in the United States, Inter America and South America. We were blessed to spend time with these dear people.
Henry was born at home at 2005 East Empire Spokane, Washington 24 May 1918 to Paul Bennie and Marie Sophia Meyer Bergh. From the start Henry liked to travel, his father was a brakeman on the Great Northern Railway and received passes. The family traveled west to Seattle, Washington and to Seaside, Oregon before Henry was a month old. In his baby book his mother commented that “it did not hurt him a bit!” His mother also recorded that he sat up by himself at four months and before a year old he was walking. He learned to whistle when 27 months old and was off to a good start for the active life he would live.
In 1920 he was badly burned on a camping trip when scalding water was accidently spilled over his chest, shoulders and lower part of his face. He was hospitalized and not expected to live but after many prayers and constant care Henry slowly recovered though he carried scars the rest of his life.
When Henry was four his mother joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church. His father didn’t join until 1943 but was a kind and loving father. Henry loved attending Sabbath School and won awards for always knowing his memory verses and being on time without missing a week for a year. His Sabbath School teachers instilled the love of God and Christian service. We have in our display of Henry a JMV manual that was presented to him by a Sabbath School teacher for perfect attendance. His parents instilled good Christian values in his life and Henry decided at a young age to follow Jesus.
The family had moved to a farm for a while but guess “dad” wasn’t in to farming so later they moved to 3311 Lee Street and then to 2529 Broadway, Spokane. Here his parents drove Mrs. Jackson and her daughter, Miriam, to Sabbath School and Church. Henry says they were never introduced but he fell in love with her as they rode in the back seat of his folk’s car. Henry says he fell in love a once but Miriam didn’t seem impressed. J Henry told his mother that he would marry Marian someday… it was a long time later before they were married.
After graduation from high school he attended Walla Walla College. As a freshman he was tested for English and about 25 ended up in a top class, including Henry. Five of the students ended up as editors for denominational papers, including Henry’s friend Eugene Sample who edited the Little Friend for many years. Henry was asked in later years to edit the Youth’s Instructor and later still Junior Guide Magazine but turned those opportunities down.
Henry worked his way through College and when Elder E. L. Pingenot, pastor of the Battle Creek, Michigan Church held a “Week of Prayer” and shared a quotation for the Spirit of Prophecy that we should pray to God every morning, Henry put a sign on his door “Did you think to pray?” Thus began a lifelong habit of spending time with his Lord and Savior.
Henry married Marian Jackson 24 August 1940 just before he started his senior year at Walla Walla College. They were married in his uncle Pat and aunt Amy’s back yard under an apple tree. After graduation the following spring Henry began denominational work as assistant treasurer and cashier for the Oregon Conference. Here they shared their rental home with Wayne Hooper and his wife Harriett who became lifelong friends.
The Conference President called Henry to his office and told me it was important that the Conference Treasurer knew how to preach. He would help him become a pastor and set up appointments for him to preach at various churches. Henry said no, he wasn’t trained but the president insisted he would give him guidance. Before the year was over he was asked to pastor the Milwaukie church. He also was the song leader for several evangelistic series and then became Missionary Volunteer Secretary in the Portland area spending time writing the Trail Blazer program for youth. About this time the Conference Committee ask Henry to be pastor of the St. Johns Church in Portland with about 175 members, Milwaukie had 135.
About this time Marian was expecting a baby and in those days you didn’t know if it would be a boy or a girl until it was born but Henry was positive it would be a son. When Marian gave birth Henry was very disappointed that the baby, they named Karen, was a girl.
Henry was asked to work for Pacific Press in Mountain View, California in Central California Conference. While there Henry was also busy organizing Regional Association for young People. Henry really had a heart for youth. This group held evangelistic meetings at the San Jose Civic Auditorium with about 2,000 people present. Special guests included the conference president, Union MV Youth Leader and Alf Lohne from Norway as featured speaker. They even broadcast 15 minutes of the proceedings over a local radio station and God blessed their efforts.
On their 1946 August 24th Wedding Anniversary Judi Ann was born to join the family. Miriam thought Henry would be disappointed it was not a boy this time but he said that Karen had convinced him that girls were very special and he was happy.
About the middle of February 1948 the Conference President R. C. Baker asked Henry to become the Missionary Volunteer Leader for the Conference. Glenn Filman, the Youth Department director, was leaving but Henry had never thought he qualified for the Youth Department and was flabbergasted. Dave Anderson an assistant to Glenn at Camp Wawona took Henry on a tour of camp and Henry became more and more convinced that this was something he would like to do.
After taking the matter to the Lord in prayer Henry did accept the position and he and Miriam moved to San Jose to be closer to the Conference office. He began his work at the MV Department on 1 April 1948, Henry said that he was “green as a gourd”. Henry’s first act was to go to all the towns where there were active MV Societies meeting the pastor and MV leader. He also began recruiting for his summer staff at Wawona as nothing had been done but setting the dates for the boys and girls junior summer camps and a Senior Camp that would be in July.
But first Henry was to be in charge of Junior and Senior Youth meetings at the Fresno Camp Meeting soon after school was out. The camp meeting was held at the old Fresno Union Academy grounds and the youth meetings were held in Driver Hall, a small gym. The meetings went well with many great youth attending. At the camp a group of girls came up to Henry and Miriam and sang the Wawona Camp song to them. It was then that Henry realized how important Camp ministry was to the young people. George Vandeman was speaker at the adult meetings. Someone told Henry that he was a great speaker so Henry slipped into the adult tent and listened. He stayed to meet George and asked him to come speak to his youth. The only free time on Vandeman’s schedule was the 6:00 AM Sabbath morning meeting so it was arranged for him to come speak then. George and Henry became friends for life.
That first summer camp held about 150 at each camp and 75 at the Senior Youth camp. Henry said they must have done something right that first year, because in the summer of the next year 243 boys came to the junior Camp, a record for Wawona. This caused me to split the camps so we had an adventure camp of one week for 9 year olds, with boys and girls together. Then we had ten day junior camps for boys and for girls ages l0 & ll. And a boys and a girls camp for l2-l5 year olds and I called this Earliteen camp. Other conference youth departments made similar splits about the same time. We continued having senior camps but attendance was small, for it was said that the kids had to work to help pay their tuition for the next school year.
Henry stated that he thought in the nine years as youth director he had hiked more than a thousand miles in the High Sierras. There are few trails in Yosemite that Henry did not walk, and he walked all but about thirty miles of the John Muir trail from Yosemite Valley to Mount Whitney. Beautiful country!
One time Henry was leading a group of girls from Glacier Point to Little Yosemite, to overnight there, and on to the Valley the next day. They carried packs with their bedrolls, and distributed the food to various packs. I had put the food together without waiting for Miriam to help me. She was the director of food service, and planned well for the hikes. At breakfast a camper was assigned to prepare the powdered milk, and she was having a difficult time making it taste right. Elder Alban Millard offered to help, for he was “an expert on fixing powdered milk.” He stirred; added water, added powder, and it still didn’t taste right. Pat Hartje, another counselor, also knew about powdered milk, so she tried her hand at it, and when she tasted the powder, she concluded I had brought corn starch instead of powdered milk. In my haste I had dipped into the wrong barrel! No milk for breakfast that morning.
We had two camp meetings in l948. The second was at Soquel, the first ever at that location. The big auditorium and two restrooms had been completed, otherwise the workers came several weeks early to clean up the grounds, and pitch tents. Henry didn’t get there until the last week, because he was at Wawona. He knew how important it was to get the proper location for the Youth and Junior tents, and he had to be “forceful” to make sure they were set up on the spots we chose.
After camp meeting was over and Henry was back at the office getting things in order, when he had a visit from Mrs. Lorna Esry a member of the Sunnyvale church with deep concerns for her son. He was about ll years old, going to public school, and wandering from the path. Mrs. Esry wanted to know what she could do to help her boy continue in the way. I told her I had read in Our Little Friend about something being started in Southern California called Pathfinder Club. I offered to write about the activities, and be in touch with her when I heard. So I wrote to Miller Brockett, the Youth Director in Southern California at that time, and he sent a resume of what the club in Southern was doing. There was also a club in Southeastern, where Pathfinder Clubs had actually begun in 1928. To Be Continued Next Month
