Mary Jane Bergen, age 74, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, went home to be with the Lord on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, surrounded by her family. After a difficult battle with cancer, she is now in the presence of her Savior whom she joyfully spent her life serving.
Mary Jane was born on November 29, 1951, in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, to the late Grady and Gladys (Bennett) Bassham. There she grew up and came to faith in Christ. She later attended Tennessee Temple University in Chattanooga where she received a degree in Elementary Education and met her future husband Burdette.
Feeling called to the mission field, Burdette and Mary Jane moved their young family to Germany in 1985. Mary Jane and her husband faithfully served thirty-five years in Germany, pouring their lives into ministering to people whom they had come to love dearly. Mary Jane’s many roles on the mission field included teaching in both children’s ministry and women’s ministry, training children’s ministry workers, playing and teaching piano, serving as camp counselor and camp cook, hosting frequently in her home, and coming alongside others to help with practical needs and to encourage them in their own walks with the Lord. Upon retirement, she continued serving in both the women’s and children’s ministries at Grace Baptist Church in Chattanooga. Throughout all of these opportunities, Mary Jane devoted herself to her husband and three children as a loving and supporting wife and mother. She also enjoyed her role as grandmother immensely. On this side of eternity, she will be greatly missed.
Survivors include her husband of 52 years, Burdette Bergen; children, Jonathan Bergen of Harrison, TN, Amy (Kelly) O’Rear of Chattanooga, TN, and Rebecca Bergen of East Ridge, TN, as well as her three grandchildren, Stephen, Kate, and Zachary O’Rear. In addition to in-laws and nieces and nephews, she is also survived by her three siblings, Randy (Nita) Bassham, Jeannie (Tom) Burns, and Margie Bassham, all of Poplar Bluff, MO.
The family will receive friends from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Monday, October 5, in the East Brainerd Chapel of Chattanooga Funeral Home. A service will be held at Grace Baptist Church at 7815 Shallowford Road, Chattanooga, TN, on Tuesday, October 6, at 10 a.m. Interment will follow at Hamilton Memorial Gardens.
Arrangements are by the East Brainerd Chapel of Chattanooga Funeral Home, Crematory and Florist, 8214 East Brainerd Rd., Chattanooga, TN 37421.
Please share your thoughts and memories at www.ChattanoogaEastBrainerdChapel.com.
