Pearl Mae Woodward

Her family and friends called her “Pem” with her Texans friends knowing her as “Pam.” Born and raised on a farm, Pem was the youngest of 4 children (2 boys and 2 girls) born into the Bremer family in Stanton, Nebraska, a small town of about 1,500. The Bremer farm was homesteaded by Pem’s grandfather, who emigrated from Germany. Despite a lack of indoor plumbing, central heating or air conditioning, life on the farm was great for the children, though lots of work. Even later in life, Pem still remembered getting indoor plumbing and central heating while she was still young. Her father, Gus, was an outstanding cattle feeder, and ‘Bremer Beef’ was well-known and prominent throughout Nebraska. She attended a rural, one room schoolhouse through the 7th grade, when she went to “town school.” Pem thought country school was better because she could listen in on the older kids’ lessons. In Stanton High School, she participated in the choir and band, playing the alto saxophone and winning many awards for her soloist skills. Graduating as Salutatorian at Stanton high school, she won a scholarship to the University of Nebraska. She handled the big changes in going from a small-town high school to the big University at Lincoln well and excelled in college. Pem graduated Magna Cum Laude with a B.S. degree from the College of Pharmacy at the University of Nebraska in 1957, and received numerous awards and honors including:

- The highest scholastic average in the nation in Kappa Epsilon, the fraternity for women Pharmacy students

- Election to the Rho Chi honorary pharmaceutical society, receiving the Gene S. Gilmour-Rho Chi award given to the highest ranking student in her graduating pharmacy class.

- Election to Sigma Xi, the national physical science honors society, the science equivalent of Phi Beta Kappa.

- Recipient of the Top Ten Senior Women’s honors for having the highest scholastic standing in four years of college.

- Selection as a countess of AK-SAR-BEN, the State organization recognizing outstanding families in Nebraska, similar to a Cotillion Ball for the State of Nebraska.

During her freshman year at the University of Nebraska, she pledged to the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, where she served as its treasurer for 3 years.

Following graduation, Pem worked at the Lincoln Pharmacy Clinic. While working there she met Kirk Woodward, a radio station DJ working in Lincoln, Nebraska, on a blind date set up through a friend. They hit it off from the start and were married in August 1958. Pem took a semester of graduate work at Purdue University on a National Science Foundation Fellowship. Because she had married, her Fellowship award was cut by half. This was her first encounter with the unfairness that women often face in the economic world. After one semester at Purdue, she and Kirk left for Peoria, Illinois, where she served as the Registered Pharmacist on duty and store manager for Freeman's Drug Store. While in Peoria, from 1960 to 1962, Kirk and Pem had two children, Ted and Margot. While living in Peoria, they went through some very, very troubling times during which Pem discovered Christian Science. The book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, gave her an entirely new outlook on life that revealed the spiritual nature of Life to her, as taught by Christ Jesus. It brought her out of the depths of despair into a whole new world. Christian Science served as a guiding light and inspiration to her for the rest of her life.

Her husband's work eventually took the family to Abilene, Texas, in 1965 where they lived and raised their family for 23 years. While there, Pem completed education courses at McMurry College, and earned a teaching certificate from the Texas Education Agency. Pem took a position teaching Chemistry at Cooper High School in Abilene for twelve years. In addition to teaching hundreds of students, Pem was Science Department Chairperson for the high school, sponsored an Ecology Club, and was a member of numerous science and teaching organizations. She was a very popular teacher and was known for her “magic fountain” demonstration for her classes.

Pem was a very active member of her local Christian Science Congregation, and while in Abilene she served on the Board of Trustees for her church, the First Church of Christ, Scientist. She was also its treasurer and led the finance committee during the construction of a new church edifice. She taught Sunday school, headed the music committee, and served as Second Reader for the church. She had a beautiful singing voice – courtesy of voice lessons from her sister, Flo – in addition to being a great piano player. She was often the pianist for the Sunday School Hymns.

In 1981, Pem left teaching to become the Regional Sales Manager for a national school science supply company, Science Kit (SK) & Boreal Laboratories, headquarters in Buffalo, New York. Requiring considerable travel, Kirk and Pem relocated in 1988 to Grapevine, TX to be near DFW airport, and she changed her preferred name to Pam. She traveled extensively for the company, with a territory encompassing a five-state region. A usual week would consist of an early Monday departure from home, with a return on Friday evening. She would typically spend 140 nights away from home each year. Within two years of being hired, her territory led the seven national regions in sales. In 1993, she set a new sales record and was the top salesperson in the nation several times. When she learned that other sales managers, all men, were getting several thousand dollars more in base salary than she was, Pam brought to her company’s attention that a bill had been recently passed by Congress requiring equal pay for equal work. It seemed discriminatory that she was doing the same work to a higher standard than the other sales managers yet receiving a lower base salary. This was her second encounter with what women have to face in the business world. To their credit, the company responded immediately with a pay raise to match that of the men. She never had any further trouble along that line. Pam said the moral of the story is: “Stand up for your rights, Ladies!”

As an outstanding alumnus from the University of Nebraska, in 1990 Pam was honored to be asked to represent the Chancellor of the University of Nebraska at the ceremony in Abilene, TX, when McMurry College gained University status.

During her 15 years as Regional Sales Manager for SK/Boreal Labs, Pam designed three successful products for the company. She wrote numerous articles on innovative teaching techniques that were published by the Science Teachers Association of Texas. She was honored to have met and engaged with Dr. Jane Goodall through their mutual association with the Grapevine High School science department, where Pam administered the Dr. Jane Goodall Outstanding Ecology Teacher Award in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex for six years. Becoming acquainted with Dr. Jane, as she’s called, was one of the highlights of Pam’s career. She also served on the National Biology Teachers Association committee to select the Outstanding Texas Biology Teacher, and held memberships and participated in many, many science organizations. Pam was an unbelievably busy and productive lady! She closed her career with SK/Boreal Labs in December of 1997 with a wonderful and memorable retirement party.

Pam’s husband, Kirk began a motorcycle rally, called the Mother Road Ride/Rally, in 1990. After passing away from lung cancer on February 11, 2002, Pam continued to run the Mother Road Rally with a dedicated group of riders annually until she sold the business in 2011.

Continuing her lifelong association with the Christian Science Church, Pam served as a member of the Christian Science Broadcast Committee of North Texas and was universally regarded as the most dedicated member of the local First Church of Christ, Scientist in Irving, Texas. She served on its board, as the Clerk, the reading room Librarian, a Sunday school teacher, a building maintenance point of contact, and its music chairman.

Pam also loved the fellowship of her sisters in the P.E.O. Chapter HS, which she joined in 1998, where she served as its Recording Secretary and Chairman of the Educational Loan Fund. Pam was even on the board of her Brookside Townhome Association (the HOA). Pam was never idle!

Pam was preceded in death by Parents Gustav Bremer and Anne Weiss Bremer, Husband Kirk Griggs Woodward, brothers Gus Bremer and Gene Bremer, Sister Florence Bremer Havens, brother-in-law Richard (Dick) Havens, nephew James Havens, niece Shelly Havens, and granddaughter Helen Jessie Woodward.

She is survived by many loving relatives and friends too numerous to be listed fully here, but you know she loved you! These include son Ted Kirk Woodward and his wife Sheryl Smith Woodward, granddaughter Miriam Joyce Woodward, daughter Margot Ann Woodward Quinn, grandson Jacob Woodward Quinn, granddaughter Heather Kathleen Quinn and her husband Andrew Jarboe, great-grandson Barrett John Quinn Jarboe, and Margot’s partner Mark Thomas Kettenhofen, brother in law Thomas A. Woodward and his wife, Sara Woodward, nephew Rand Havens and his wife Debbie, niece Joni Havens-Black and husband Michael, and many loving great-nieces and nephews, plus relatives from the Havens, Woodward, Bremer, and Hungate families.