Pam Bartlow 1952 - 2011

When my friend of 40 years, Michael Bengston, called to tell me that our friend and sister Pam Bartlow had died the night before I was shocked and taken aback. Then, very, very sad. Pam died during the night of a heart attack. I hear she thought she had heartburn. Turned out to be much, much worse. And we've all suffered a touching and unexpected loss.

Her memorial was conducted on Monday, December 5th at 2 p.m. at the United Methodist Church in Wrightwood, California. She had spent the last two decades of her life in Wrightwood, where she owned and ran Hair Fitness, her beauty salon. It was in Wrightwood she made the friendships that sustained her in the last few years, and it was her friends in Wrightwood that organized and conducted her services. To them, we are all very grateful. You can read Pam's obituary here.

Pam was there, just about all the time, for decades of our lives. I first met her when she was 19, living in the charming older part of downtown Fullerton, Calif. She was a local. Our friend Phyllis Johnson (Costa) has a cousin that went to school with Pam.  A perennial character, the late Bruce Hachey (Fat Bruce), introduced me to Pam. I had just bought my first home at age 21, moved in a bunch of my friends to pay the mortgage, and was working in nearby hospitals at the time. Pam had just been married. Though I didn't know her first husband, I understand he was an earnest fellow - so it came as a surprise to him that Pam had no intention of reigning-in her very social lifestyle.

One thing you need to know about Pam, she was an attractive young lady who knew how to make an entrance and command a room. She was always high-energy, full of life, bubbling over with enthusiasm - and in the early days, sensuality. For most men, and a lot of women, she was quite the character. And, of course, she made a few of our female crew members more than a little nervous.  They were wise to keep an eye on the girl, she could be pretty damn seductive. It was part of her charm, of course.

So her first marriage didn't last long. Born Pam Powers, her married name had been Pam Whiting - which she kept until she met and married doctor Greg Bartlow some years later.

Pam was comfortable on her own, she had a great network of friends, and quite self-sufficient. It wasn't long before she was enrolled in Fullerton College's Cosmetology program... and we were all making pilgrimages to the campus to get haircuts. That's the thing, we were a crew. We stuck together.

Shortly after that, Pam accompanied a group of us to Europe for a long, five week trip. Pam, and me and my partner at the time, Vanessa threw caution to the wind, leased a Simca in Paris and headed south. We met our bro Steve Hesler in Versailles and then spent a pretty crazy next few weeks careening through France, Spain and Morocco. I'm thinking that trip will take an entire post to re-construct, authored by the principals.  I'm pretty sure it was the time of Pam's life, she certainly stepped out of her comfort zone (I'm thinking squat toilets here) and partied hardy in new and foreign places. As just one example of our adventures, we entered rural Spain on a holy holiday of some sort. After parking the Simca, we started to explore the village - Pam in her tube top and wrap-around skirt. We were all showing a lot of skin, in retrospect. Long-story-short, we got run out of town by a small, angry mob of men. Who knew travel could be so much fun?

So the intent of this blog is to provide a public space on the Internet for friends, family and really anybody who cares to share stories, pictures and the like. You can easily do so in the comments section below, but if you'd like a bigger pulpit, let me know and I'll make you an author so you can post a piece of your own.