Pamela Miller Perkins

Mother, wife, daughter and attorney, died Monday after a short illness, surrounded by her family and loved ones. She was 66. Pam handled legislative and legal affairs for two congressmen, one senator, one president and three governors but she was most proud of her twin children and her husband of 41 years. She kept meticulous files and most of those files dealt with the activities of her children and family. She loved Louisiana and worked all of her life to make it better for all citizens. Pam was born in Memphis, Tennessee, but her parents moved to Baton Rouge shortly after her birth. She considered herself a Louisiana native and spent almost all of her life either in the state or working on behalf of the state. She spent numerous hours working on behalf of civic groups and on animal welfare issues. She was a private person at heart, content to putter around her house and yard, sometimes reluctant to socialize and yet usually the lively center of the party when she did socialize. Pam was a member of the Louisiana and D.C. Bar associations, a board member of the Capital Area Animal Welfare Society, a former board member of the Southside Civic Association and a member of numerous civic organizations. She retired in 2011 as general counsel for the Division of Administration. Pam attended Baton Rouge High School and LSU, where she was student body vice president, a member of Phi Mu sorority, and a member of Scotch Guard. She graduated with honors from LSU in 1969 and moved to Washington, D.C., but her heart never left Baton Rouge or Louisiana. She graduated from law school at George Washington University while working full time. Her first job in Washington was with the Grocery Manufacturers Association as a congressional liaison. She later worked as legislative director for Reps. Edwin Edwards, D-La., John Breaux, D-La., while in law school , and then for Sen. Russell Long, D-LA. Upon admittance to the D.C. bar, she joined the Federal Trade Commission as a staff attorney but quickly found she missed the action of being on Capital Hill. When Jimmy Carter was elected president, she joined his staff as a congressional liaison officer for transportation and marine matters. Pam met her husband, Jay, in Washington. He was a political reporter for the Associated Press at the time. They moved to Baton Rouge in 1982 when he accepted a position teaching journalism at LSU. She worked for LSU in alumni affairs for a year while prepping for the Louisiana state bar and then joined the attorney general's staff in the education section. A year later, she moved to the Division of Administration as deputy general counsel. She became general counsel in 1995 and held that position until her retirement in 2011, working for Governors Mike Foster, Kathleen Blanco and Bobby Jindal. Pam is survived by her husband, Jay; her son, Christian, a student at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wa.; her daughter, MacKenzie, a recent graduate of Guilford College in Greensboro, N.C.; her mother, Elaine Miller; her brother and sister-in-law, Roger and Alice Miller of San Ramon, Ca.; her niece, Jennifer Miller and her nephew, Jeffrey Miller, of Los Angeles, Ca. Visitation will be held at Rabenhorst Funeral Home, 825 Government St., on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Visitation will be held at University United Methodist Church, 3350 Dalrymple Drive, on Thursday from 12 noon until services at 2 p.m. Interment at Roselawn Cemetery.