Pamela Callihan Obituary

Callihan
Pamela "Pam" Jean
(Stott) Callihan
June 1, 1945
January 13, 2025

Pamela Jean Stott Callihan passed away on January 13, 2025, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Pam was born on June 1, 1945, in Covington, Kentucky, to Ernest Eugene Stott and Bonnie Stott, née Schenker, while her father was stationed at Fort Thomas. The family soon moved to Atlanta, Georgia, her father's hometown, where her life frequently involved relatives on her father's side, including her grandmother and great-grandmother, aunts, uncles, cousins, and southern cooking most Sundays. Soon she also acquired a younger brother, to whom she would forever be the protective older sister. During summers, the family often accompanied Pam's father on business trips to Florida. They also regularly visited her mother's extended family in New Jersey, including her Latvian grandparents and a colorful array of welcoming cousins. Trips to Barnegat Bay and the Jersey shore and boardwalks were special treats.
In Atlanta she attended three elementary schools - Cascade, Venetian Hills, and finally the venerable W. D. Thomson in DeKalb County - before graduating from newly opened Briarcliff High School. In high school her inclination for active social engagement and organization surfaced in her participation in various service and special-interest clubs, especially the drill team, in which the meticulous halftime routines she helped design vividly demonstrated her artistic and organizational skills. She was also chosen Miss Briarcliff and Miss Congeniality, the latter attesting a lifelong personality trait that emerged with everyone she met.
She attended Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia, where she was vigorously active in sports, including four years each of soccer, basketball, volleyball, softball, and election to the W letter-club. She was elected president of her junior class, and in her senior year also president of the Wesleyan Athletic Association. Her social engagement at Wesleyan similarly came to expression in her recognition as a Senior Superlative and her membership in the Splinters honorary society for scholarship, sports, class activities, and sportsmanship.
The Wesleyan yearbook's characterization of her as a graduating senior describes her personality not only in college but also, with remarkable prescience, during the rest of her life:
"Here's a whirlwind of intensity, a bottle of VO5, perfect coiffure, the ringing sound of the Beatles, John Gary, and Christmas carols in May, an abundance of energy and determination with the motto: 'When in doubt - go ahead!'"
Not surprisingly, Pam stayed in contact with some of her Wesleyan friends long after graduation.
Following graduation she taught elementary school in DeKalb County, Georgia, where her artistic inclinations came to expression in her colorful, eye-catching classroom decorations. She then trained to be a flight attendant for Delta Air Lines. Flying out of Miami also enabled her to visit her brother in Paris, her first trip to Europe.
In Miami she also met Robert Lynn Callihan. They were married in Atlanta in July 1969 before moving to Waterville, Maine, where he began work for Hartford Insurance and she continued teaching elementary school. His transfer to Hartford, Connecticut, the following year began their long residence in the Hartford area, where their two sons, Scott and Derek, were born and raised. She immersed herself in New England life, including weekend visits to antique shops and flea markets with her "antiquing buddy," who remained a lifelong friend.
Pam continued teaching in Hartford, and her devotion to her students eventually earned her a nomination as Connecticut's teacher of the year. She also played tennis avidly and found an outlet for her artistic talents in award-winning needlework, especially counted cross-stitch. Her love of sports naturally influenced her sons, with Derek traveling as a nationally ranked tennis player in his youth, and Scott's love of golf continuing to this day with rounds with his father. She remained in contact with many of her Connecticut friends for the rest of her life.
Pam and Bob eventually retired to Sunset Beach, North Carolina. There she developed a special relationship with the beach on her long walks down to the South Carolina line and back. She collected countless shells and beach "treasures," many of which she used to create striking works of art for friends and family. Pam and Bob also regularly entertained visitors at the beach, including old friends from Connecticut, family from Atlanta, and especially her grandchildren, with the graciousness, generosity, and hospitality for which Pam had long been known. Never one to rest too long, Pam soon went back to work, this time applying her organizational skills as office manager for a local builder and in planning events for her neighborhood association.
Pam and Bob finally moved to Colorado Springs to be close to family. Pam, as always, immediately found a niche where her many skills could benefit others, especially in helping to plan church functions and as head of their homeowner's association. This proximity to family and loved ones, on the one hand, and her ongoing engagement on behalf of others, on the other, helped close the circle of the well-lived and well-loved life that she and Bob began shaping for themselves back in July 1969.
Family and friends will miss Pam's generous, thoughtful personality, and her readiness to help others and to show that she was thinking of them, not least on holidays, birthdays, and any occasion where she could put a card in the mail. Everyone will continue to cherish her ever-present artistic flair in the gifts she bestowed over the years, from shadow boxes to decoupage to calligraphy to needlepoint and many other crafts, and will continue to sense her engaging spirit at family holidays and celebrations.
Survivors include her husband, Bob; sons Scott of Colorado Springs, and Derek of Pennington, New Jersey; daughter-in-law Kristy, and Kristy's mother, Martie Geanopulos of Colorado Springs; her grandchildren Cole, Carras, Jack, Luke, and Lyla; and her brother, Doug Stott, and sister-in-law, Barbara Wojhoski, of Atlanta, Georgia.
The family requests that memorials to Pam be made via donations in her name to the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust at coastallandtrust.org.