Pamela Buchanan Lawson

It is with great sadness the family of Pamela Buchanan Lawson, announce her passing Monday, May 1, 2023, after a heroic battle with cancer. She was born on July 20, 1953, and was predeceased by her parents Lawrence (Pete) and Vessie Blalock Buchanan in Hampton, Virginia.

She married Gregory Lawson on August 2, 1975. They met in Junior High School and dated throughout their years at Hampton High School and Virginia Tech enjoying an incredible 54 years together. She was smitten by his good looks and impressive dancing. Sailing was the focus of their teenage years enjoying the gorgeous Hampton waterfront for years before sharing it with their loving son, Robert Buchanan Lawson, born in 1992. Robert has brought two amazing grandchildren into their lives, Mason Alexander, 10, and Blakely Jane, 7, whom she has showered with love and affection. She always enjoyed her brother Barry Buchanan, wife Debbie, lovely niece, Laura, her husband, Chris Moore of Annapolis, and their 2 children, Marina and Colin.

Pamela was brilliant, ambitious and competitive. She was accomplished and always felt a deep financial responsibility for her parents and family. She was a magna cum laude graduate of Virginia Tech, with a B.S. Degree in Accounting. She joined Lockwood Broadcasting in July 1995 and was responsible for the financial management of the stations in the group as well as for the acquisitions and sales the group has accomplished. She began her career as a CPA at KPMG, where she attained the level of Senior Accountant before leaving to enter the banking industry. She served as Chief Financial Officer of Bay Savings Bank, a subsidiary of First Federal of Michigan Corporation, and TideMark Bank, now Suntrust Bank. While employed by First Federal, she managed their mergers and acquisitions team, purchasing Thrifts throughout the southeast and gulfcoast integrating them into the First Federal system and their conversion from a mutual thrift to a stock thrift traded on NASDAQ. While at TideMark, she spearheaded their successful conversion to a publicly traded company (NASDAQ), along with the acquisition of two banks and managed the merger of the two into TideMark Bank.

She was active in her profession and the community. She served on the Peninsula Town Center Community Development Authority, Peninsula YMCA Board and the Hampton Coliseum Advisory Board, and recently completed service on the 400th Anniversary Celebration Committee for the City of Hampton.

Pamela was an avid boater, ready traveler and generous friend. She was the village photographer, historian, seamstress and accountant. Always there with a bright smile, kind words and love in her heart. Her courage and grace throughout this illness were unprecedented. Pamela was the person we all wish we could be, making people remember us not for what we said, but how they made us feel. She will be terribly missed.

A memorial service will be held at 11 AM on Saturday, May 6, 2023, at First United Methodist Church, 110 E Queen St. Hampton, VA 23669. A reception will follow at Hampton Yacht Club, 4707 Victoria Boulevard.

In lieu of flowers please consider a gift to The Peninsula Community Foundation of Virginia, 48 W. Queens Way, Hampton, VA 23669 or your favorite charity.

Arrangements by R. Hayden Smith Funeral Home.