GILMAN, PAMELA AMAN 1952-2006.
Pamela Aman Gilman of Portland, died May 2, 2006,
surrounded in love by her family and friends. Pam was born
in Bismarck, N.D. Oct. 2, 1952, to Ella and Walter Aman. The
family moved in 1967 to Oregon where Pam graduated from
Sunset High School. A graduate of Seattle Pacific
University, Pam pursued a life of professional social
service, beginning as a Vista volunteer
in The Dalles, followed by years of service to the North
Portland Youth Service Center. Pam and her late husband,
Dennis
Gilman, took up residence in the Buckman neighborhood after
their marriage in 1980, and together built a life of
community involvement. In the years following her initial
cancer diagnosis in 1994, Pamela managed Portland's Ten
Thousand Villages store. She had great passion for the
principles of fair trade and the Mennonite mission of
service. The greatest joy in Pam's life was time spent at
home with her two daughters, Cadie and Maggie, and her
husband, Dennis, community developer and founder of REACH
CDC. Despite the death of Dennis in 2001 and multiple
recurrences and grueling treatments, she guided her girls
through successful high school careers and on to college.
The web of love that surrounded Pam in life was present
throughout a 12-year struggle with cancer. She exhibited a
powerful will to live and a deep graciousness about the
conditions of her life. Her friends, members of the Portland
Mennonite Church, Pam's angels, and her immediate and
extended family, were all enriched by relationships that
deepened as they were drawn together into serving and
comforting her during her closing years. Pamela was preceded
in death by her mother, Ella, in 1973 and is survived by her
daughters, Cadie and Maggie; her brothers, Alan and John,
and her father, Walter Aman.
A memorial service in celebration of her life will be held
at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 6 in the Portland Mennonite Church,
1312 S.E. 35th Ave. Portland, OR 97214. A trust has been
established for her girls and donations can be sent to
"Portland Mennonite Church" at the above address, notating
"Gilman Trust."
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