PAMP, Janet Mary

Janet Mary Novak Pamp died Jan. 4, 2007, at Columbine Manor Care Center in Salida. She was born in Brooklyn in 1921, the older child of a machinist who was putting himself through college at night. He got a degree in electrical engineering, invented two devices, and moved the family to Maplewood, N.J., where Mrs. Pamp grew up in more comfortable circumstances. Mrs. Pamp graduated from Smith College in 1942 and married Frederic E. Pamp that year, just before he was shipped overseas. Their daughter was born while he was serving in the U.S. Army in Europe. Along with her husband, Mrs. Pamp's brother and two brothers-in-law served in combat - it was a long war for her. She was a gourmet cook who focused solely on raising her children until her youngest was 12, when she felt free to volunteer outside the home. One of the first women presidents of a municipal board of education in New Jersey, she also obtained a master's degree in French. When the Army sent her son to Vietnam, she joined the Red Cross and worked in the Service to Military Families program. She always wore her son's peace dove pin when she met with military officers at Ft. Dix. She later worked for the school system in Rockport, Mass. She was a staunch supporter of public education and as a lifelong Democrat, she believed the government had a vital role to play in helping less fortunate members of society. Survivors are her brother, Richard Novak of Gloucester, Mass.; two children, Diane de Avalle-Arce of Santa Ynez, Calif., and F. R. Pamp of Salida; four grandchildren, Miren Armenta of Santa Ynez, Calif., and Fadrique Avalle-Arce of Maui, Hawaii, Andrew Pamp of Boston, Mass., and Anne Pamp of Colorado Springs; and a great-grandchild, Dakota Zavalla of Santa Ynez, Calif. She was preceded in death by her husband of 57 years, Frederic E. Pamp. Donations may be made in her memory to the American Red Cross. Mountain Mail Salida, Colorado