Pamela Joan Howland, beloved wife, mother, sister, teacher, and second mom to many, died on September 22nd , 2021 at 7:40am at the young age of 64. Her husband and daughters were with her as she died after treatment for pancreatic cancer failed to help her.
Pam is survived by her husband of 39 years (and partner of 49), Wendell Myers, her daughters Andrea and Julia, her sisters Linda and Deborah, her many nieces and nephews, and countless dear friends. Pam is predeceased by her parents and her brother-in-law Mike.
Pam was born on December 24th , 1956 to Doris (née Drewitz), the daughter of a Polish immigrant, and Ralph “Bud” Howland in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. She met her husband Wendell at Pilgrim Camp in Green Lake, Wisconsin on August 14th , 1972 at age 15. Pam and Wendell started college together in the fall of 1973 at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and stayed together through several transfers. Pam earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. She earned her Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music. She taught at Hochstein School of Music, Monroe Community College, Winona State University, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and the Community Music School in Winston-Salem. She was a staff accompanist at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Her longest held teaching position was in Wake Forest University’s Music Department, where she taught for many years as an Assistant Professor. She was a natural and gifted teacher and public speaker. Pam loved her students at Wake, many of whom babysat Andrea and Julia and were treated as part of the family.
Pam recorded her first CD in 1996 and went on to record 19 albums total, including the music of Chopin, Debussy, Ravel, and more. Her recording of Chopin’s Farewell Waltz has been streamed on Spotify more than 11 million times. She created her own arrangements, wrote a one-woman show, and performed across the United States as well as internationally in Austria, Colombia, France, Poland, and Portugal. In 2011, she traveled to France and Poland with faculty from UNCSA to film her documentary about Frederic Chopin’s life. She presented at academic conferences on memory, nostalgia, and concepts of home in Poland and Denmark. Pam was a Steinway Artist, a 2017-2018 Fulbright Scholar to Poland, and a Chopin specialist. Most recently, she composed, recorded, and published Three Scenes from Poland, her first original music.
Pam was a sensitive and imaginative musician, but she was so much more. Her passion for music was really about making and maintaining connections with people. Pam was welcoming to everyone she met, often chatting up cashiers and strangers. She collected friends everywhere. She believed that everyone was special and no one was irredeemable. Pam was not afraid to die but she was certainly sad to go.
We would like to extend a special thank you to the nurses and nursing assistants on the 7th floor of the Cancer Center at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and the staff at Kate B. Reynolds Hospice Home. You treated Pam with compassion and respect at what must be a very difficult time in your careers. We can’t thank you enough for treating all of us like more than just part of your job.
Pam would not want us to put anyone at risk for her, so details of a memorial service will be forthcoming at a time when COVID has improved.
Please consider donating to the Poland Fulbright Assistance Fund at http://en.fulbright.edu.pl/support-us/