Pamela Shewmaker Obituary

Services will be held on September 22, 2014, for Pamela Jean (DRENNAN) SHEWMAKER of Montgomery Village, MD, who passed away from an accidental fall on June 25, 2013, in Brighton, CO, at her second home. Memorial services will be held at 3:00 PM at the Old Post Chapel at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall with inurnment services to follow immediately in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA.

She was born August 11, 1943, in Shelbyville, TN, to then 1st LT Guy Drennan, JR. and Charlene (Blalock) Drennan, while her father was training with the 30th Infantry Division at Camp Forrest, TN, in preparation for the future D-Day.

Pam grew up in a military family, living in post-WWII Germany in Nuremberg, Frankfort, and Stuttgart in the late 1940's and early 1950's, in post-Korean War in Tokyo, Japan in the late1950's, and in Austin, TX and Northern Virginia when in the U.S. Her love of art began at the age of 12 when she began taking art lessons in Japan. That love of art flourished past high school after graduation from Annandale High School in Virginia in 1962, and became her area of study concentration in college at the University of Oklahoma and then at the National Art Academy in Washington, DC, where she graduated in 1965. This love for art continued throughout her entire life. Much of her art work was inspired by a love of nature and the outdoors which she gained through Girl Scouts internationally in Japan and the U.S. as well as with the Boy Scout programs.

She was married to 1st LT Robert E. Shewmaker, on August 7, 1965, at the Post Chapel at Ft. Belvoir, VA, and then moved to Tacoma, WA. The couple returned to the east to Gaithersburg, MD in late 1966 and then moved to Montgomery Village in 1968 where she was residing at the time of her death.

While raising her family, Pam would often utilize her artistic skills to produce graphics and artwork for her children's schools, sports activities, as well as Girl and Boy Scout programs. Within the Whetstone Elementary School area she was known as the "Picture Lady" in the 1970's when she would provide supplemental art instruction at the school. She was trained as an adult Boy Scout leader at the Philmont Boy Scout Ranch in New Mexico and was qualified as a Scout Leader Wood Badge. She served many years as an adult trainer for the Secota District, training scout leaders in the area of outdoor cooking, ropes and knots and crafts. She extended her art skills by training to be a silversmith and custom jewelry creator. She executed her artworks in many media, but found watercolor to be her favorite medium of expression. She expanded into teaching and sharing her love of watercolor and the arts to various retirement communities and resorts. She was a member of the Strathmore Artists in Bethesda, MD, and the Gaithersburg Fine Arts Association where she had served as Treasurer. Pam had been showing and selling her paintings and jewelry in the Washington, DC area for many years, but had recently begun participating in the Brighton Eye for Art Program in Colorado. She was spotlighted in the Denver POST in March 2013 with her artwork. Two of her dedicated pieces of art now reside permanently in the City Hall of Brighton, CO.

Pam was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, sister, and an accomplished artist and friend of many. Her time and travels in the American west and native culture seemed to inspire her best artworks that will be left to enjoy and inspire others. She will be missed, but not forgotten by all who knew her and loved her.

Pam was preceded in death by two infant sisters in the U.S. and an infant brother in Germany; her parents, LTC Guy Drennan, Jr and Charlene (Blalock) Drennan in 1968 who were killed in a boating accident near Stafford, VA and are buried in Arlington National Cemetery; her grandmother, Rose Edith Drennan, who lived with Pam and her husband from 1971 until her death in 1976.

She is survived by her husband, Robert E. Shewmaker; her son, Brett R. Shewmaker and wife Emily of Inwood, WV; her daughter, Lesley A. Shewmaker, of Brighton, CO; and two grandchildren, Samantha Robinson, and Colton Robinson, also of Brighton, CO. She has one surviving sister, Deborah A. Camilo, of Rockville, MD.


This obituary was originally published in The Gazette (Gaithersburg, MD).