Date of Birth: April 16, 1952

Date of Death: April 22, 2023

Storyteller extraordinaire Pamela Parkinson left this world on April 22nd after some recent health challenges. Pam was born in Wales in 1952 and was brought to the United States as a young child by her parents Henry and Gwenllian Parkinson. She attended grammar school and high school in Wood Dale and Bensenville, Illinois. After college, she started her training in the medical field. She worked in many places, including Illinois, Arizona, Alaska, and North Carolina, garnering a dedicated group of friends wherever she lived and worked. Pam held a wide range of jobs during her many years in the workforce, starting out as a nurse and ending up as a technical writer at IBM in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Pam loved to laugh and entertained her friends and coworkers with stories about her previous jobs and tales of her travels. For the amusement of the younger set, she liked to play with words. She would announce “My name pronounced backwards is Alemap Nosnikrap. What’s yours?” One of her favorite things to do to settle squirmy children while waiting in venues like restaurants was to begin “One smart fellow, he felt smart. Two smart fellows, they….”. Try saying this as quickly as you can; eventually you are not saying what you intend, and the time will pass on waves of laughter. Pam always laughed the loudest. Pam also loved craft projects. When her nieces had children, she filled their nurseries with variations of wild crocheted creatures. Pam had an infectious enthusiasm for whatever she was doing. She got carried away crocheting beads on girls' socks and had so many that she donated them to the Raleigh School for the Blind. Pam loved music, and she sang with the Women’s Voices Chorus in North Carolina. Being fine Welsh women, Pam and her mother, along with a friend, took three road trips to hear Sir Tom Jones in concert over the years. She didn’t throw underwear at him, but she had a fantastic time. Pam is survived by her two brothers, Thomas and Richard Parkinson, her nieces Valerie Patel, Stefanie Glass, Gwenllian Parkinson, and Crystal Stone, and their ten children, and many friends. Her loved ones will continue to honor her legacy by remembering her laughter, her craftiness, and her good nature. She was a kind, warm-hearted soul, and she will never be forgotten.