Mary Christine Bieker

Mary Ellis Bieker was born August 27th, 1940 to parents Wesley & Rowena Ellis in Spokane, WA. They moved to Oregon where Mary graduated from Beaverton High School and was one of the youngest members of the Portland Junior Symphony where she played cello under the direction of Jacques Gerskavitch. Later she attended Lewis & Clark College and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Music Education. At Lewis & Clark Mary was a member of Mu Phi Epsilon, an organization that Mary continued supporting throughout her entire life. She then expanded on her education at the University of Southern California where she earned her certification degree in Occupational Therapy. From there she worked at various hospitals and internships while working toward an Occupational Therapy career. But she found herself coming back to her first passion, music teaching. Mary taught music at Russellville Elementary School and until recently, carried on as a reliable substitute teacher in David Douglas, Gresham, and Reynolds districts. Music and the arts were a large part of Mary’s life as she attended all sorts of concerts, operas, and theater performances.

Mary met Donald Bieker on a skiing trip and they later married in 1969 and had 3 kids Matthew, Curtis & Anita. They built a cabin together, where the family spent many vacations. They moved from Portland to Troutdale in 1980 where Mary once again became an active part of a new community.

Mary was active at St Henry’s Catholic Church and taught 4th grade catechism. She was a volunteer helper with her children’s classes at Wilkes and Sweetbriar School and served on various advisory boards within the Reynolds School District. Mary invested many hours helping and accompanying students at Rockwood, Columbia and Reynolds in their solo music competitions and was a marching Mom for the various parades. Mary invested many hours with troop 177 at tree lot fund raisers, shuttling boys to camp outings, helping plan Scout events and being the line of communication, a role that she was so good at. She was always at her children’s soccer, track and basketball games loudly cheering from the stands. Mary also was a host Mom to Japanese students traveling abroad and actually was able to visit Japan in 1999.

Mary rarely missed any of her children’s music concerts or events. If she knew about it, she was there. She even made it to college concerts for her children. She continued to encourage her family to attend live music and events.

Mary was an avid gardener, cook and seamstress with an eye for perfection in everything that she did. On thanksgiving she always made pumpkin pies usually with pumpkins from her garden. She was always providing cookies and baked goods to anyone who she wanted to reach out to and loved to talk to all people, no matter who they were. She had a fond interest and cared about other people’s lives.

Damage to Mary’s heart valves from having Rheumatic fever twice caught up with her in 1992 when she had the first of three open-heart surgeries over her lifetime. She was proud of the medical technology that kept her alive; the mechanical valves and high-tech pacemaker. She showed us all great strength and determination as she faced her medical issues head on. Her determination to recover was a testament to the inner strength that she possessed. She fought hard to the end.

The family would like to thank all the wonderful Doctors and Nurses from Providence Medical Center that helped Mary and our family through this most recent and challenging hospital stay. Especially ICU and Orthopedic on 8 North. She will also miss her friends in the anticoagulation clinic.

Mary will be deeply missed and is survived by husband, Don, and three children: Matt, Curt and Anita. Three grandchildren: Matthew, Melena, Collin. Mary is also survived by her siblings: Marty Lehman and Wesley Ellis Jr.

A memorial service will be held Sunday October 19th, 2pm at Rose City Park Methodist Church, 5830 NE Alameda St. Graveside services will be Monday October 20th, 10 am at Lone Fir Cemetery in SE 26th Ave and Morrison Portland, OR. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the Rose City Park Methodist Church Music Program.

Arrangements under the direction of Zeller Chapel Of The Roses FH, PORTLAND, OR.