Sadly, Pam lost her battle with Lewy Body Dementia and is no longer with us. But I have decided to leave this post as it was written.
Our first date was watching Mod Squad on TV in her apartment and then off to Salisbury Beach to see Mac's Mob. She was from a very small town about an hour from Boston. I grew up in a large coastal town about an hour and a half from New York City. We were both a little bit hippie and a little bit settled down. Less than a year after the first date, we were married. In June of 2022 we celebrated our 50th anniversary.
Except for an 18-month
excursion to Dallas, we made our home in southern New Hampshire for more
than 25 years. We raised three wonderful daughters that are just so
different from each other. And there are now five fabulous grandsons.
She worked in retail, while I put my engineering degree to work in the
computer industry. Like many other middle-class families, we struggled
from paycheck to paycheck at times. But a good work ethic eventually
paid off and we kept our heads above water. All three daughters went to
college. But when they graduated and moved back home, we decided that
it was time for us to move away. 😄
Sometimes karma shines a favorable light upon you. At the company Christmas party in 1998, the CEO gave me some advice which turned out to be prophetic. He advised me to cash in some of my stock options every year because "you never know what is going to happen". Sure enough, the company was bought out and I eventually lost my job. Fortunately, we used the options to buy an old family farm in southern Maine just six months beforehand. This led to a second career as the network admin for the local school district and an elected Town official.
In 2019, we purchased a used motor home and made some wonderful trips to Prince Edward Island in Canada and Boothbay Harbor in Maine. By the next year, we had decided to sell almost everything we owned, including our tree farm, and travel this great country for two years. Then COVID hit. So we were winter snowbirds in Silver Springs, FL, hoping that all the restrictions would be gone and we could travel. But controlling life's journey is just a mirage. Pam began to show signs of cognitive impairment and was diagnosed with dementia in late 2021. Long range travel is now out of the realm according to her doctors. We have now embarked on a new journey. We can't change the end point, but we certainly can influence how we get there.
About Pam....Pam grew up in a small, rural town in Massachusetts, just outside of Nashua, New Hampshire. While her dream of being a flight attendant was never realized, she put her people skills to good use in retail sales. She managed a children's shoe store for a few years and was well known for remembering each child's name and birthday. She took those skills and helped JC Penney open a brand new store in Salem, New Hampshire. She finished her 18 years with Penney at the Portland, Maine store selling custom window coverings.