Pamela Creek

Pamela M. Creek, 61, of Las Cruces, N.M., died Sunday, July 31, 2011 at Mesilla Valley Hospice. Pamela, the middle child of Rufus D. and Laura M. Creek, was born in Tucumcari, N.M. Her early years were spent in the small community of House, N.M., where she graduated high school in 1968 in a class of a dozen students. She then followed her elder brother, Jim, to Las Cruces and New Mexico State University. While a student, she worked as secretary for the Air Force ROTC program, which was the start of a long and successful career affiliated with the U.S. Armed Forces. She was also a founding member of the Pi Beta Phi chapter at NMSU. She remained active as a sorority alumnus throughout her life. Pamela graduated from NMSU in 1972, earning an associate's degree in secretarial studies and a bachelor's degree in business administration. In 1981, she earned a master's degree in personnel administration from Central Michigan University. Pam said she always believed that her future would be in a large city and she proved that to be so. Immediately upon graduation, she began her career as a clerk with the Department of Commerce in Washington, D.C. During her 28-year career, she subsequently worked in the Washington area for four federal agencies, blazing a trail for professional women in civil service. Twenty-two of those years were dedicated to the Department of the Army, working for several major commands including the Army Security Agency, the Corps of Engineers, Military District of Washington, and Military Traffic Management Command. She also worked for the Total Army Personnel Command and at Army Headquarters for the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel. She parlayed her considerable skills into jobs of increasing responsibility culminating in Senior Executive Service positions, first as a Deputy Human Resources Director for the Department of Veterans Affairs and finally as the Executive Director of Human Resources for the Defense Logistics Agency, with over 25,000 civilian and military employees throughout the world . Pam was smart, organized and articulate as well as a natural leader and manager. In 2000, she retired from federal service but continued to work, traveling throughout the country as a consultant in human resource management, leadership development and business training. In 2008, Pamela returned to Las Cruces. She dedicated much of her time to community service and was on the boards of both the Amador Hotel Foundation and Honor Flight of Southern New Mexico. Pam was immensely proud of her affiliation with Honor Flight and the opportunity it provided her to meet and assist World War II veterans. Pam is preceded in death by her parents. She is survived by her companion Ed Marquez, brother Jim Creek and his wife, Sterilla Smith, sister Monte Marlin and her children Nathan and Cameron, and niece Sarah Fraticelli, her husband, Erik and children Jacob, Austin and Joshua, and many dear friends. Pam will be remembered for her lively personality, intelligence, iron will, grace, beauty and loyal friendship. At Pam's request, no funeral services will be conducted. Her ashes will be returned to her childhood home. Donations in her memory may be made to "The Pamela Creek Memorial Endowed Scholarship for Children of Returning Veterans" at NMSU, with checks made payable to the "NMSU Foundation Inc." Attn: Robert Peterson, Gift Planning Director, P.O. Box 3590, Las Cruces, N.M. 88003-3590. Please include the scholarship title with your donation. On-line giving is available at www.foundation.nmsu.edu.