Pamela S. Pospisil

People come into your life at times to open your eyes to that around that you may not have known or seen. I found out today - a dear friend passed last night who was never without a smile or a wisecrack to bring you back to reality. A fellow graduate of Wahoo High School - she was 9 years wiser than I and a world ahead of me as an example of “friend” that all should be blessed to know and have in their life. Pamela Barsell Pospisil was one of the first to ever tell me she liked my efforts at prose. She told me once, “Craig - what you wrote made me cry from laughing”. Others told me it just made them cry! I’ve known Pam for years - but the last decade has been priceless! Pam’s life seemed to revolve around friends and food. To share a meal and conversation with Pam was a tutorial in wit, sarcasm and the pleasure of the palate. Whether with her FAC lady crew, classmates or any lucky enough to call her friend - her smile and wave across a room to come over and talk had more value in making my or any person’s day a “top tenner” than any I know. Pam worked with my daughter Sarah one summer in the kitchen at the jail. Pam was worldly and quite protective of her friends and thought nothing of telling the inmate kitchen workers “they’d be crapping out of a tube” if they messed with my little Bear. No one dared testing her on that warning. Pam’s “Katherine Hepburn” brownies or potato salad was legendary. I’ve heard she loved kamakazies - to the detriment of her friends and their balance and that she so cherished her FAC sisters. Stories of their antics to be told for years to come. I hope that all of Pam’s friends and family follow her guidance of crying hard at her passing. Grieving harder for this missing friend. But laughing hardest as we tell Pam stories into the wee morning hours. Pam told me more than once she wanted me to write her obit and bring her stories to light. I cannot do this light of life justice as mere words cannot carry her torch. What I can and will do - is try to be that friend whose smile and wave, across the room, will inspire all to know their worth and value to those around them. That was Pam! That was my friend. -- Submitted by Craig Gottschalk Pam is survived by her husband Arnie Pospisil of Wahoo; daughter and son-in-law DeEtte and Luke Rustermier of Wahoo; grandchildren Nick Schroeder of Adams, Olivia and Piper Rustermier of Wahoo; siblings Rand (Barbara) Barsell of Ely, NV, Mary (Roger) Mills of Blaine, WA, Walter Jr. (Cathy) Barsell of Fremont; Doug (Grace) Barsell of Green Acres, FL; Don Barsell of Ben Lomond, CA, Gloria Stroebel of Wahoo, Karen (Jeff) Petersen of Wahoo; sister-in-law Julia Barsell of Tucson, AZ; many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents Walt Barsell, Sr., Polly Barsell, and Bonnie Barsell; and brother David Barsell.