Thank you all for the condolences and sympathy. I will miss Pam enormously.
The summer of 1968, I worked the Miami University summer theatre program before I became a graduate assistant in September. One day a tall lanky blonde started working in publicity and the box office. She had just graduated from St Mary of the Woods College in Terre Haute IN, married a student in the Miami University architecture program - which was a 5-year program - and the director of theatre offered her an assistantship for the fall. I liked her enormously.
One of the past summer shows was In White America, and the scene designer Bill Rappel was one of the cast. The In White America photo in the lobby with other previous summer show photos showed every cast member but Bill, and he started bugging Pam about this. "You'll never get your degree until you hang my photo," he warned her daily.
Then, one afternoon in our first year as grad assistants, we heard a loud scream and a long laugh from the men's room. It was Bill Rappel. He had gone into a toilet stall, closed the door, and saw his cast photo taped to the inside of the door with the note: NOW DO I GET MY DEGREE?
At that moment I fell headlong in love with Pam Hollenbeck, who passed away on Friday. I will love her forever.
