There are volunteers, and then there are the Pams

By Lloyd Garrison
Whether you know them or not, you are going to miss Dorothy and Bob Pam, who are about to leave town to be closer to their daughter and two grandchildren in Amherst, Mass. They are relative newcomers, having resided here only seven years. But in a town that prides itself on its voluntarism, few have given Norfolk more of their time and talent than the Pams.
Both swear that when they retired from their jobs in New York City, they had no intention of getting so involved. Dorothy Pam, who taught English at Hostos Community College of the City University of New York, intended to write.
Bob Pam, a policy analyst and pension manager with the City of New York, hoped he might learn to draw, sculpt and build furniture.
“But I soon learned that I know how to work hard but I don’t know how to play very well,” he says.
So he joined the Lions Club, little knowing that he would be elected the club’s current president. He also caught the eye of ‘Norfolk Now’ editors, and was soon reporting on town finances and economic development issues.
It is an axiom of life in Norfolk that if you volunteer for one thing you get asked to join everything. The Foundation for Norfolk Living, which is now close to building its first affordable home, enlisted him as their treasurer. He put his analytic experience to use as a member of a five-year planning committee at Regional 7. When he learned that the basement at Town Hall was overflowing with walkers, wheelchairs and hospital beds donated by Norfolkians, he arranged through the Lions Club to send the surplus to a clinic in the Philippines. Another achievement as Lions president was collecting used bicycles and sewing machines for distribution to Third World countries through Pedals for Progress.
In recent years, the Winsted Health Center sought his expertise as a consultant on long-range planning. He also shepherded a $131,000 grant in federal funds for physical improvements to the center, and helped design a training course for chore workers who help out in homes of the elderly.
Marilyn Davidson and Charlie Fidlar of Maple Avenue, friends of Dorothy Pam since their Loomis Chaffee days, were instrumental in getting her to consider retiring to Norfolk. The decision was easy. “I wanted to hear birds,” she recalls. “I wanted quiet, I wanted country. But after looking around, I also wanted village. Here we have both.” From the back porch of their Victorian era home, the Pams can see the village Green.
“I was burned out after teaching five courses every semester for 18 years in the South Bronx,” she says. “But in a few months, I got restless.” She volunteered to write for Norfolk Now and became a regular. Then she drove down the hill to Northwestern Connecticut Community College in Winsted and asked if there were any openings on the faculty. The answer was yes and she began teaching English and writing. She plans to continue teaching in the fall, with lots of opportunities to see old friends again.
Her next step was to join the Library Associates. “I love the book culture of Norfolk,” she says. “More people read and talk about books here than any place I’ve been since college.”
Soon, her writing and organizational skills were increasingly in demand. She joined the board of the Winsted Health Center and helped with fund-raising. As a Contributing Editor at this paper, she penned 19 articles and devoted many days and nights researching the special edition that commemorated the town’s 250th anniversary. She became a member of the board of the Norfolk Historical Society, helped organize the 100th anniversary gala that marked the founding of the Music Shed, and in 2006, the Library Associates elected her president. “It was my goal to broaden the membership and breathe new life into the annual August book sale.”
Which she did.

Time to move on: Bob and Dorothy Pam trade Norfolk, Conn. for Amherst, Mass., but promise to stop by every now and then.

The Pams will leave Norfolk by the end of this month. Moving in to the historic home will be Kim Maxwell, who retired in 1998 after founding two successful data communications companies in California, and who went on to gain a Ph.D. from Stanford in English Renaissance literature. His wife, Judy, who also has a doctorate, is an independent art curator.
Given the gap in volunteer service created by the Pams’ departure, the Maxwells should be warned to expect a few phone calls inviting them to also share their time and talent.

Photo By Bruce Frisch