Pamela Day Pelletreau

Born Hartford, CT March 2, 1939

My mother, Katherine Long Day, was a niece of Lottawana Flateau Nims and Eugene Dutton Nims. They invited our family to join them and spend summers at The Larches on Nobska Point. My father, Pomeroy Day, in the early years, commuted weekends and came for an August vacation. In later years we rented the Rose Cottage on Fay Road and a separate house on the Larches before moving to our own home on Fay Road.

In 1966 I married a Foreign Service Officer, Robert Halsey Pelletreau, Jr. whose family had long summered in Menhaunt. During Bob's career with the Department of State, we raised three children and lived in several North African and Middle Eastern countries. In 1982 I returned to graduate school and five years later received a doctorate in Political Science from George Washington University. Subsequently I taught overseas (Tunisia and Egypt) and became a part time employee of the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

When President Clinton asked Bob to become Assistant Secretary of State for the Near East, we returned to Washington and I joined the Center for Global Peace at American University, taught, then was offered a part time contract with USAID in Washington. Subsequently, I was asked to serve as an elections observer, first with the National Democratic Institution (NDI) in Yemen and then, as an American representative, with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Upon Bob's retirement from the law firm he joined after leaving the Department of State, (1997) we spent four memorable months in the Sorbonne course for foreigners on French civilization and a year in Jerusalem with a NGO, Search for Common Ground. After five stimulating years in New York, in 2012 we moved year round to the house we had built on The Larches.

Summer activities in Woods Hole included sailing at Quissett, the Children's School of Science, the Penzance Players and a memorable summer learning typing in Falmouth and sewing from my grandmother and great aunt!

My first paid employment was at WHOI, where I sifted sediment for Dr. Howard Sanders. As Bob's and my family grew, we vacationed in Woods Hole. As the children and I experienced evacuations from the Middle East, Bob's family on Long Island and Woods Hole were always our "safe havens". With a good education, an international commitment and more time, I have become familiar with the work of the Barnstable Human Rights Commission and, through the United Nations Association of Greater Boston (UNA/GB), have worked to support Model UN in Cape Cod schools. With both old and new friends, I am a member of the Ad Hoc Committee for Peace and Justice in the Middle East that, in the summer, sponsors six Sunday evening lectures at Fisher House. Bob and I plan to rejoin the "Great Decisions" Program at the Falmouth Public Library in February. It is a pleasure to be at home!