Pamela Crane Walker

Our extraordinary mother, Pamela Crane Walker, passed away at her home in Washington, D.C. on October 24 at the age of 96. She was a force of nature – fiercely devoted to her family, a relentless booster of her four children, a beloved (and sometimes bemused) wife to her husband, Peter Cuyler Walker (1925-2000), of fifty years, and friend to untold many who populated the different stages and places of her rich life. She lived, in short, a full, adventurous, and marvelous life.

Mom was born in 1927 to Thekla Wilkes Crane and Frederick Goodrich Crane of Dalton, MA, the second of three children. She would tell us that her childhood was idyllic – loving and accomplished parents, a fairytale home, an older brother (Uncle Fred) whom she worshipped, and a younger sister (Aunt Ro) whom she loved and remained best friends with throughout her life.

Mom attended the Morning Face Girl’s School in Pittsfield, MA, until the age of 14, when she left Dalton for boarding school at Milton Academy. She boarded there for most of the war years – her father and brother were naval officers in the Pacific, and she made a memorable train trip to the West Coast at one point during the war to see her father. She served as editor of the Magus at Milton, and claimed she was courted by one-after-another of the Milton football captains. She graduated with honors from Milton and went on to Smith College, where she made many life-long friends and graduated with high honors in 1948.

After Smith, she worked briefly in New York City before moving to Washington, D.C., where she worked at the Department of State on refugees and displaced persons from the war. In 1951, she married Peter Cuyler Walker of New York City. Dad had just joined the Foreign Service, and immediately after their grand wedding in Dalton they left for Dad’s first overseas assignment in Belgrade, in what then Communist Yugoslavia.

Their first child, daughter Melissa (Missy), was born in 1952 in Munich, where Mom flew to deliver Missy at the U.S. military hospital. More foreign postings followed: Valletta, Malta, from 1953-55, where son Edward (Ned) was born; Athens, Greece (1957-59), where son Theodore (Tad) born; Mogadishu (1960-63); Tananarive, Madagascar (1967-70); and Lourenco Marques (now Maputu, 1974-75). In between these foreign posting were regular stretches in Washington, DC, including from 1955 to 1957, during which time their third child and second daughter, Elizabeth (Lisa), was born in 1957.

Peter retired from the Foreign Service in 1978, after which Mom and Dad settled in Washington, DC. They also spent much of each year at their beloved summer home in Osterville, MA, on Cape Cod.

Mom loved sailing in particular, but she was also an avid tennis player and skier, as well as an occasional golfer. She travelled regularly throughout her life, including after Dad died in 2000. She loved her many grandchildren and great grandchildren, and would tell us that a grandmother’s role was to “keep her mouth shut and purse open.”

Mom had the most wonderful laugh–a deep and infectious chuckle. She also had a marvelous sense of humor, notably about herself (albeit not her children). Her broad smile, however, could turn into a terrifying frown at the least excuse, particularly when children or grandchildren stepped out of line. She loved a cocktail or two – later in life, it was a stiff vodka on the rocks with a splash of water at exactly 6 pm. “A drink with a message,” she would call it. Sometimes two.

She was a role model and mentor to many, including but not only to the many women she met and befriended while serving abroad. And she and Dad and the most astonishing stories – sometimes funny, sometimes alarming, sometimes sad – to tell about their adventurous lives together.

Mom is survived by sister Rose Crane Smith (Andover, MA); daughter, Melissa Hastings (Osterville, MA); son Edward (Ned) Walker and wife Lorna (New York, NY); daughter Elizabeth (Lisa) Walker and husband Jorge Sodero (Chevy Chase, MD); son Theodore (Tad) Walker and wife Ana (Greenwich, CT); grandson Samuel Hastings (Miami, FL); granddaughters Dinah Cook and Caroline Walker (both of New York, NY); great grandsons Walker Cook and Crosby Cook (both of New York, NY); grandson Eric Sodero (Chevy Chase, MD); grandsons Peter Walker (Miami, FL), Henry Walker (Miami, FL), Edward Walker (Miami, FL), Robert Walker (London, UK), and Samuel Walker (Avon, Colorado); and great granddaughters Chloe Walker and Madelyn Walker (both of Miami, FL).

A remembrance celebration will take place on Sunday, October 29, at 1 p.m. at the Chevy Chase Club, 6100 Connecticut Ave., Chevy Chase, MD. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Nature Conservancy.