Pamela Morsi Kiel

1951 - 2024

Pamela (Sylvester) Morsi Kiel
March 12, 1951 - December 14, 2024
Pamela Morsi Kiel died on December 14, 2024 at her home in San Antonio, Texas. She was a nationally award winning novelist whose books appeared on the USA Today and Barnes & Noble Best Sellers list. Pam twice received the coveted RITA Award for best historical romance of the year. The author of 29 novels, the Los Angeles Times included her book, Simple Jess, on their list of best love stories of all time.
Pam was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma on March 12, 1951. She was the daughter of Vance Russell Sylvester, a World War II veteran who went on to serve as Mayor of his home town and Celesta Zoe nee Gilkey, his high school sweetheart, who later worked as a practical nurse.
Pam grew up in the heart of the oilfields in the tiny town of Oilton, Oklahoma, attending the same one-building school that her parents and all her aunts and uncles attended. She graduated from Oilton High School in 1969 and received her BA at Oklahoma State University in Humanities. She obtained a Master's Degree from the University of Missouri in Library Science.
Pam met her first husband, Farouk Morsi, while she was working at the Oklahoma College of Osteopathic Medicine Library. They married in 1979 and moved to Spain where Farouk worked for the US Department of Defense. They traveled extensively in Europe and the Middle East.
After returning to the United States, they lived in Charleston, South Carolina, where Pam worked in academic libraries for over a decade before becoming a full time writer. Pam and Farouk reared his young son, Tamer, and in 1980, their daughter Leila was born.
In 1991, writing at a dressing table in her bedroom in the evenings after work, Pam completed her first novel which was immediately purchased by a major New York publishing house. She was given a three-book contract, enabling her to resign from her library position.
She quickly rose to the top of the romance writing world with quirky stories set in small towns and communities peopled with unlikely everyday heroes and heroines. She was soon identified as a "star" and a "fresh new voice" in the genre. Publishers' Weekly's designation of her as the "Garrison Keillor of romantic fiction" reflected the wit, charm, and down-to-earth flavor of the settings and characters in her romantic novels. Pam said her inspiration to write came from the fact that she saw "humor in everyday life and honor in ordinary people".
She and Farouk moved to San Antonio in 1992 and Pam became the President of the San Antonio Romance Writers in 1994. After Farouk passed in 1996, Pam continued to write as well as devoting her time to her daughter Leila and the community of special needs parents in Alamo Heights.
In 2001, she married William F. Kiel, a retired geophysicist, who shared Pam's love of books, laughter, and good conversation. During their 18-year union, they traveled to Latin America, Europe, and Egypt, as well as across the United States. Bill and Pam also both actively participated in community improvement projects and other activities in Alamo Heights. Pam was an avid supporter and close advisor to Bill during his service on the Alamo Heights City Council before he passed in 2019.
Pam is survived by her daughter Leila of Fort Worth, Texas, her sister, Sherry Sylvester Ramsey, of San Antonio, her nephew Steven Couch of Irving, Texas, her niece Kerry Chaplin of Fort Worth, Texas, and her stepchildren, Tamer Morsi (Mary) of San Antonio, Kimberley Deering (Kerry) of Kingman, Arizona, Heather Wilk (Gary) of San Antonio, Matthew Kiel of San Antonio, and Jason Lester (Laurie) of Wellington, Florida. She leaves ten grandchildren: Easton, Griffin, Laurel & Quintin Morsi, Amanda & Douglas Deering, Benjamin & Julia Wilk, and Natalie & Luke Lester.
Services will be held on December 28, 2024 at 1PM in the Chapel House at the Bishop Jones Center, 111 Torcido Drive, San Antonio, Texas 78209. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Alamo Heights Community Garden (In Memory of Pamela Kiel) or The Muscular Dystrophy Association (https://www.mda.org/).