Pamela Ruth Lewis
November 16, 1944 - August 15, 2023
A beautiful and generous life has passed.
Pamela Ruth Lewis passed away peacefully on August 15th, 2023, when her battle with cancer and Alzheimer’s disease came to a peaceful end. Her husband Paul and children Andy and Katie were at her side. Pam and her twin sister Kay were born to Patty and Robert Illman in Boston Massachusetts on November 16, 1944. In the winter of 1945, after World War Two ended, the Illmans returned to Seattle. Over the years the Illman family grew to include three more sisters, Terry, Sally, Debbie, and a brother, Jim. The Illmans lived in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood and spent summers building a cabin and playing on Maury Island. They all enjoyed beach combing, clam digging, and hunting for agates. Pam graduated from the University of Washington in 1968. On New Year’s Eve, 1967, she met Paul Lewis. Pam and Paul fell in love, married in 1969, and were pretty much inseparable for the next 55 years. In the early years of their marriage Pam worked at the Seattle Parks Department, specializing in recreation programs for deaf and blind adults. She and Paul were also live-in caretakers for Camp Long in West Seattle. The Lewis family grew to include two wonderful children, Andy and Katie. Pam became a great full-time mom. She was always full of fun, and active in the kids’ activities and education. The family lived for a time in England. Pam studied at the Maria Montessori Institute in London and became very excited about the principles of joyful, child-led learning. After returning from England, she began teaching at a Montessori pre-school and later pioneered child[1]led learning in Seattle Public Schools. She was a founding teacher at Cooperative Holistic Elementary (Coho) School which later joined with New Options Middle School (NOMS) and became Salmon Bay K-8 School. She loved teaching, and because she was such a kid herself, she was a natural, taking glee in each student’s successes, and concern for their struggles. She was a calm and kind teacher who was loved by students, parents and fellow teachers. Pam was an avid amateur geologist and rock-hound who was always on the lookout for agates and fossils. A stroll on the beach almost always proceeded at a very slow pace, with eyes down, inspecting every rock. She was amazingly good at finding beach agates which others could not see. Pam and Paul were always up for adventure. Sailing, biking, hiking in the early years and long-distance cruising and RV touring later in life. Over the years they owned two sailboats and a 46-foot trawler which they lived aboard for several years. They cruised extensively, as far as Alaska and Tahiti. Pam and Paul always had bikes, touring bikes, folding bikes, electric bikes. They biked the Oregon coast as their first adventure in 1970. After they moved from their boat to their home in Magnolia, they switched their adventures to an RV, equipped with recumbent trikes. Together they toured many “rail trails” in the Northwest. Pam and Paul retired in 2000. After attending a lecture at UW, they became passionate about the impending climate crisis and the environment. Pam founded Sustainable Magnolia, and spearheaded composting, recycling, Pea-Patch, and solar energy projects. She was active in the community and represented the Magnolia neighborhood on the Seattle Neighborhood Council. She saw to it that Sustainable Magnolia joined the Chamber of Commerce, and convinced local businesses to recycle and compost food waste. Sustainable Magnolia did public outreach through Magnolia Summerfest and the weekly public market. Pam loved to write. Her reflections on life, private notes and poems are tucked away in small notebooks which she rarely shared. “Treasure Friends,” a book about an eleven-year-old girl discovering new talents and feelings and making new friends, remains as a complete manuscript which may someday be published. Pam was compassionate, kind and loving. She was naturally beautiful without the adornments of fashion. She always valued doing something over having something. She will be deeply missed by all who knew and loved her. No services are scheduled at this time. Please send an email to pam@mvgryphon.com if you are interested in upcoming celebrations of Pam.