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Pamela Sue Allison (nee Wetton) of Washington, Mo., formerly of Webster Groves died Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2005.
Mrs. Allison was born May 1, 1954. She attended Edgar Road Elementary School and Hixson Junior High in Webster Groves, and was a 1972 graduate of Webster Groves High School.
Mrs. Allison graduated from Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau in 1976. She went on to get her masters degree, and became the area director of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education of State Schools for the Severely Handicapped.
Mrs. Allison was the wife of Willis Allison of Washington, Mo.; mother of Anna Mirly and Lara Morgan; daughter of Ruth Wetton and the late James W. Wetton Sr.; sister of James (Sheron McCain) Wetton Jr. of Franklin County, Mo.; stepmother of two; grandmother of Austyn Morgan; sister-in-law of Kit Whittington of Webster Groves; aunt of Ryan (Gretchen) Whittington and James Wetton III of Webster Groves; friend and child of Christ.
Mrs. Allison was an outstanding woman. She was cherished and will be missed by her family and friends. Funeral services are pending. Please call Miller Funeral Home in Washington, Mo., for more details, at 636-239-6707.
Memorials to the American Cancer Society, P.O. Box 102454, Atlanta, Ga. 30368-2454. Please designate your gift to "Melanoma Research."
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Joseph (Chip) Jones
Pam Wetton was a close friend that I met in 6th grade at Camp Wyman. We went through Hixson and WGHS together and even attended the same university. Pam and I never dated but were close friends. Kind of like a brother and sister. We would talk deeply and just hang out together with so many different common interests. Pam was such a fun personality to be around. She could tease and joke. We would sing together, pray together, and laugh together. We would confide in each other; bounce ideas and thoughts off each other. We visited SEMO together before deciding to go there. We both got our undergraduate degrees in education, and both went on for other advanced degrees. Pam was in the Latin Club and on the Pom-Pom Squad during high school and also became an elementary school principal for some years in addition to what her above eulogy shares.
I remember how good she was at being an outdoor education counselor at Camp Wyman for 6th graders while we were in high school. As I would drive her between places (school home, church/home, restaurants/home, errands etc.) She would at times grab the steering wheel while I was driving or honk the horn. She would never turn the wheel much, but it would sure get me going and she enjoyed getting me stirred up. She would laugh and after trying to convince her to stop, I would laugh. During our senior year, we had over a dozen friends that would all meet at Jacks or Better on weekend evenings. We would talk and sing along with the pop/folk band (Single Tree) that was always performing there. Our group did some camping/canoeing. One Christmas vacation we took a canoe trip and stayed in a cabin one night, as it was so cold out. Pam and I ended up on the floor not far from the fireplace. Late that night around 3-4 in the morning the logs had all burned out and it was very cold inside. Pam poked me as she would normally do, and said, “get up and put some logs on the fire.” I grumbled and said, “you do it.” She then said, “get those logs on the fire or move over close to me, I’m freezing.” She knew that would motivate me to get those logs on the fire, and it did. We laughed about it the next morning as the cabin was warm.
I think the biggest complement I ever received from Pam was after she had been teased about walking like a duck during high school. We were walking down a quiet WGHS hall sometime after lunch and she asked me, if she did in fact, walk like a duck. She then walked down the hall and I watched. Of course, I shared that she had a very fine, and beautiful walk. I thought that was such an act of vulnerability and trust in our friendship during those high school years. Sometimes it’s the little things you remember.
She would call me from time to time as we both moved on with life, career, and families. We would talk education and update. She would ask me about jobs in the Saint Louis County area but seemed to enjoy work a little further outside of Saint Louis County.
It is rather sobering to see so many friends in this memorandum list. I am so glad to be alive. I will enjoy seeing many of them again someday in that place called heaven and seeing many of you at our 50th reunion.
Philip V. Spradling
Chip, thank you for sharing so many fond memories in your post. I did not know that the two of you were close friends for so long. I knew Pam, her mother Ruth, and brother Jim all through childhood due to our mutual membership at South Webster Presbyterian Church. In the mid 2000's I got reacquainted with Ruth Wetton since she lived at Laclede Groves retirement community in Webster, where my parents had moved.
Pam and I went through confirmation class together, summer church camp, and I was in Latin class with her for two years. I was part of a close knit high school youth group at South Webster Presbyterian, but if memory serves, Pam was finding social connections elsewhere by then. I remember Pam's wit, smile and sense of humor and that two of her constant friends were Sue Baureis, and I believe Susan Hausladen, both class of 72.