Pamela Azar O'Brien

Pamela Azar O'Brien
October 13, 1949 ~ May 4, 2012

PACIFIC GROVE - Pamela Azar O'Brien passed away peacefully at home surrounded by family and friends on May 4, 2012 at the age of 62 after a long battle with breast cancer.
She is survived by husband, Dale O'Brien and sons, Neal and Raymond O'Brien of Pacific Grove, California; her beloved sister and brother-in-law, Barbara and Tony Davis of Columbia, Missouri; her aunt, Minnie Todd of St. Louis, Missouri; and many in-laws, cousins, nieces, nephews, relatives, and friends. She was predeceased by her parents, Raymond and Hazel Azar of St. Louis; by her brother-in-law, Neal O'Brien of Oregon House, California; and by her sister, Mary Ann Allison, of Clarksville, Missouri.
Pamela was born and raised in St. Louis where she captained the girls' basketball team at Lindbergh High School. She modeled for fashion stores and catalogs, and in college ran the modeling program for JC Penney in Missouri. She graduated from the University of Missouri in 1971 with a Bachelor of Science degree.
Initially, she worked as a buyer for Adler's, an old Kansas City high-end women's shop where she traveled to New York and Los Angeles on buying excursions. She married her husband, Dale in 1974, and moved not long thereafter to California. They lived in Copenhagen, Denmark from 1979 until 1981.
On return to California, she functioned as a manager for several clinics in medically underserved areas. She later founded Razar Resources, a firm that dealt mainly in natural gas leaseholds and overriding royalty interests. For the past dozen years she has been the co-principal of the nonprofit Cancer Patients Alliance.
During this time she handily picked up extensive computer and IT skills, graphics and bookkeeping - as well as continuing to expand on her various crafts such as design, photography, macramŽ, cooking, sewing, etc. Her nickname was "The Craft Queen."
Pamela began flying lessons in the 1980s, and eventually became instrument rated. She owned two planes - a Piper Dakota and a Beechcraft Bonanza. For the past 25 years she has been very active in the International Organization of Women Pilots (The Ninety-Nines, Inc.). She held a number of positions in the organization, but was single minded in bringing The Ninety-Nines into the digital age. For example, she founded The Ninety-Nines website and functioned as its webmaster for many years. She also was the long serving moderator of The Ninety-Nines listserv discussion group. Pam received the prestigious President's Award from The Ninety-Nines in 2003.
Pam was seen by her friends as lovely, mature, energetic, fun-loving, offbeat, and funny. She collected cookbooks, Air Babies books, purses from the roaring 20s, the history of women in aviation memorabilia, sewing paraphernalia, Danish design, recipes, and friends. On her 16 birthday, she successfully made Baked Alaska for her boyfriend who would later become her husband. She always read the ending of a book first. She loved desserts - and chocolate. And her boys.
Pamela Azar O'Brien will be posthumously inducted into the International Forest of Friendship in Atchison, Kansas this summer, an honor memorial to those who have made a mark in the history of aviation and aerospace.
A Remembrance for Pamela will be held from 1:00pm until 4:00pm on Sunday, May 27, 2012 in a local historic adobe in old Monterey, California. For further details please call 831-224-2272.