Pam was born at the Millington Naval Base outside of Memphis, Tennessee, the first child of a Wisconsin navy seaman and a Southern belle. Her early life was marked by many moves around the country as her father pursued a career in broadcasting. After traveling throughout the deep South and the Pacific Northwest, the family finally settled on the Nimiipuu (Nez Perce) reservation in Idaho. Pam met her wonderful husband during college, set her roots down deep along the banks of the Clearwater River, and happily began a home and family.
Pam and Aaron educated all five of their children at home. They began homeschooling in 1982 and graduated their youngest daughter in 2006. Pam and Aaron have been married fifty years. They have five grown children, three sets of precious in-laws, three beautiful granddaughters, and a handsome grandson. Recently, their first great-grandson joined the family.
Pam has long loved to write. She began writing for the local college newspaper and homeschooling group. Later she authored many devotionals for her church and articles for Evangel and Christian Women’s Voice. In 2008 she wrote Song in the Night, the true account of her son’s injury in Canada, their fight to keep the doctors from pulling the plug, and the subsequent journey back home. Her second book, Out from the Shadows: 31 Devotions for the Weary Caregiver, was released by Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas in early 2014. Her third book, Arrow: The History and People of an Idaho Community, Volume One, was released in 2019. She writes a devotional series entitled “Slightly Obsessed” for the Christian music website cmaddict.com.
In 2000, Pam became certified as a nurses’ aide to care for their injured son. She and her family have operated a certified family home licensed by the state of Idaho since 2000. In 2011, she completed the practical nurse program at Walla Walla Community College and earned her license as an LPN.
Her conversion to the Lord Jesus Christ in 1975 set her on a journey with her Savior spanning more than four decades. Her love for and devotion to life has come from this association with her Creator. Pam adores her husband, her family, and friends. She enjoys her beautiful little log home, good coffee, the sound of the river at night, and just about any kind of Christian music.
On the morning of July 11, 1997, my husband and I sat in a friend’s dining room having breakfast. Our friend picked up his Bible and read 2 Corinthians 1:1-11 to us. “God gave me this Scripture for you last night,” he explained, “but I don’t know what you’re supposed to do with it.”
Neither did we.
But six hours later, we would. That morning, our son Kevin suffered a devastating spinal cord injury in a fall while on a teen missions’ trip to Canada. That Scripture, given to us hours before his injury, has become our lifeline in the decades since the accident. It has read like a script leading us safely through an endless Red Sea of impending doom.
The crossing has been long and fearsome, but no less miraculous. Though Kevin literally received a death sentence in Canada, we have been encouraged to trust in “the God who raises the dead” (2 Corinthians 1:9).
The miracles have been numerous. Kevin is one of the rare people originally diagnosed with a complete high cervical spinal cord injury who regained substantial neurological recovery. He has been officially reclassified but is still mostly disabled, with its attending complications.
Our family stands in testament to God’s healing and sustaining power. Today, more than ever, we can say God is worthy of our trust. As we walk through the daily valley of the shadow, God delivers, cares, strengthens, and graces us with His comfort.
It is this comfort I long to share with you.
…who comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. ~ 2 Corinthians 1:4 NASB