Life has three rules:

Prior to my departure to France last month, Mom asked us to have a family meeting.  We talked about her desires and wishes for the time ahead and spoke about her life-philosophies. 

She was someone who led her life caring for the here and now and the people in it and never expecting reward of any kind.  She was not religious but she did have a spiritual side that she would share with us, especially in these last few years. 

She had decided that she wanted some of her spiritual philosophies to be conveyed, come the day of her Life-Celebration.  She asked that we work together to find a spiritual story that expressed the way she felt and we agreed I would pull a collection together for her to choose from. 

I found it a difficult task; it was hard to know how she would feel or react to the stories.  Choosing something like that for someone else is really an impossible task. 

What I did do is send Mom a handful of excerpts and quotes from those books to see if any one of them might be something she was looking for.  After a couple days, Dad sent me an email to say that Mom had read all of them several times, and could not choose just one, so she chose them all. 

Because Mom passed sooner than we expected, we didn’t get to talk about the best way to include the passages she had chosen, so I decided to incorporate them throughout the things we would do to honor her.  We placed some of quotes in the videos we shared, I spoke about a few passages at her service and we used a final quote in a set of cards we made in her honor.

These cards have another special element to them; something that followed one of Mom’s better known philosophies, which was: why buy it when you can make it or build it yourself.  (And Mom could pull this off with anything from cuisine to furniture.)

So it turned out that our dear friends, Bill and Lisa Bosworth, recently acquired an old printing press and they offered us the use of it, along with lessons on how to do it right.  It was an impressive process; something I am sure would have taken half the time had I not been involved, which was reminiscent of every time I did a handmade project with Mom.  It seemed that she had to spend more hours un-doing what I had done than it would have taken her to actually make the thing herself (especially if a sewing machine was involved).  But she loved creating together and taking the time to teach and to share.  She got pure joy out of producing anything we could put our personal stamp on. 

And so after almost seven hours, Bill, Lisa and I managed to complete our cards with the last quote I will use that Mom selected.  And we were also, in the literal sense this time, able to put a personal stamp on them.

“Life has three rules: Paradox, Humor, and Change.

• -Paradox: Life is a mystery; don’t waste your time trying to figure it out.
• -Humor: Keep a sense of humor, especially about yourself.  It is a strength beyond all measure.
• -Change: Know that nothing ever stays the same.” 

By Dan Millman

CROOKED TALE X BACK CORNER PRESS    

Memorial Service and Reception for Pam

The Memorial Service will  be at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday the 18th at the West Family YMCA located at 5959 N. Discovery Way, Boise, ID 83713.  Entrance will be at the SE Corner of the Aquatic Center.


The Reception will be at 1:00 p.m. that afternoon at the Barber Park Events Center located at 4049 South Eckert Road., Boise, ID 83716.


A map and directions from the West Y to the Event Center can be found at this link:
From the Boise West YMCA to Barber Park Event Center

Pam Parker - May 12, 1951 - March 12, 2012

Pam Parker, wife, mother, grandmother, artist, inspiration and champion for the Boise Community died on Monday, March 12, 2012 at her home in Boise, Idaho.

Pam’s career started in 1972 as the bookkeeper for the Boise YMCA’s Executive Director and by the time she retired from the Y in 2003, she had directed a $13.5 million Capital Campaign used to build the National award winning West Family YMCA & Boise City Aquatic Center, acted as their Executive Director and as their Philanthropy and Communications Officer.  She moved on to work with the Nature Conservancy as the Director of Philanthropy and finally to the Bogus Basin Mountain and Recreation Area as their Vice President of Development.  With only a High School diploma, she developed this impressive career by working hard, seeing a need, and filling it – she achieved any goal set before her. The Idaho Business Review interviewed Pam and quoted her as saying, “I always felt like if somebody had expectations of me, then I must be able to do it – they wouldn’t ask me to do something I couldn’t do.”  She continued by adding, “I’m very motivated to be creative and get the job done because I really care about it and have cared for all the people I have worked for and with.”

Pam was often recognized for her achievements and contributions.  Some of the awards she received included Outstanding Development Executive Award by the Idaho Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, the WCA Joyce Stein Award for Pioneering Impact on Growth and Advancement of Women and the Association of Fundraising Professionals - Outstanding Development Executive Award. 

Of all her achievements, Pam was most proud of her marriage of 42 years, her daughters, the home she built and the marathon she ran at age 50.  Of all of her passions, cooking an elegant meal for her friends and family and being in the outdoors were the things she loved the most.  Pam enjoyed backpacking, running in the foothills, sailing the San Juan’s and serving as co-pilot while flying in the Idaho backcountry with her husband.

She made every day count.  If Pam wasn’t volunteering for community services, which included positions as an acting member of the Boise Art Museum Board of Trustees, Boise Metro Rotary Club and the American Cancer Society State Public Information Chair, she was giving to her friends and neighbors with her creative talents in cooking, sewing, gardening and the arts. 

Pam had cancer and lived the last six years with incredible courage and grace.   Her strength and positive outlook were always an inspiration to others.

She is loved and will be terribly missed.

Pam is survived by her husband, Bruce Parker; daughters, Kelli Parker and Abbie Parker and, their husbands Olivier Chatel and Steve Korol; her granddaughter, Elsinore Korol; sister-in-law, Le Kelleher; her parents, Marvin and JoAnn Turner; as well as her siblings, Joe Turner, Ival Turner, Pat Petrie, and all of their children and grandchildren. 

A memorial service to remember Pam and the beautiful life she led will be held at 10:00 am on Sunday, March 18, 2012 at the West Family YMCA, 5959 N. Discovery Way, Boise, ID 83713.  A celebration will follow at the Barber Park Center at 4049 South Eckert Rd., and to share memories with the family please visit Pam’s memorial webpage at www.cloverdalefuneralhome.com. 

In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that memorial donations be made to Bogus Basin Mountain and Recreation Area or the Boise Family YMCA.