Pamela Elizabeth Luttrell's Obituary
Pamela Elizabeth Luttrell was born in Dallas, Texas on September 26th, 1947, to Margaret Ann Cheatham and George Howard Luttrell Sr. Her first name was plucked from the air by her father, while her middle name honored her grandmother and family matriarch Elizabeth Cheatham. Pamela entered this world with a stubborn streak that would be her north star throughout her life. Undaunted by a childhood bout of polio that left her legs in casts for weeks, she trained in ballet and became an accomplished amateur dancer.
After graduating from Bryan Adams high school, she went on to attend the University of Texas in Austin. During her graduate studies, she met her future husband of 44 years, William John Flynn, a former Air Force instructor pilot, counsellor, and advocate for Austin’s disabled community. Although she eventually earned her Master's in Geology, she also pursued microbiology and German, two fields of study that happened to be perfectly aligned to her first major assignment at Mobil Oil.
After a few initial years working on rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, she was transferred to Celle, Germany, to lead an exploratory team of geologists analyzing the ancient layers of stone deep beneath the North Sea. In 1983, during that first international assignment, she and William celebrated the birth of their son Aaron. Over the next 25 years, Pamela’s career would take her to every corner of the world, earning her the title of Mobil’s VP of Global Exploration.
Pamela announced her retirement to the world by sending her signature pantyhose sailing up into the Dallas sky on two enormous purple balloons. With that more worldly chapter of her life closed, she turned her eyes inward.
In her early twenties, she had spent a year at the Lutheran Deaconess Mother House outside of Philadelphia doing charity work and had always exhibited a strong tie to her faith. But as she grew older, that faith expanded into a multitude of spiritual disciplines. In the first six months of the year 2000, she travelled to India, Egypt and Peru, and began a formal study of Sanskrit.
Her spiritual practice would be invaluable in her long and courageous battle with Parkinson’s Disease, but so would be her enduring wit, her sharp sense of humor, and her generous nature. She was a hero to all who were fortunate enough to observe and share her journey, as she now graces ours from afar.
She passed on at home, a little after midnight on the 24th of April, after a four-day vigil with family and friends. She is survived by her husband, William Flynn, her son, Aaron Flynn, and her brother, Howard Luttrell. We are all better for having known her, and the world is certainly emptier without her.
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