Pamela Whitmore

Pamela J. Whitmore was born on August 29, 1943, at the Virginia Gay Hospital in Vinton, Iowa to C.G.(Jerry) and Iola (McNamee) Whitmore. Pam attended kindergarten – 12th grade at Dysart Consolidated School and graduated from there in May of 1961. When she was twelve, she was baptized, confirmed and joined the Dysart Methodist Church. She attended Upper Iowa University in Fayette, Iowa, from 1961-1965, graduating from there in May of 1965 with a BA in Elementary Education and a minor in French. She earned her MA in Early Childhood Education from Inter-American University of San Juan, Puerto Rico, while on the military base, Roosevelt Roads, PR. In 1990, she married LCDR (Lieutenant Commander) Fred Koch, Retired, whom she met in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

She began her career by teaching in Beloit, Wisconsin, for five years before going overseas to work with the Department of Defense Overseas School System. She taught for six years on Roosevelt Road Naval Base in Puerto Rico, four years on the Army base in Seoul, Korea, four years on the NATO base in Keflavik, Iceland, ten years on the Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and six years on Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa. Pam retired in 2000 after teaching kindergarten for thirty-five years, thirty of them overseas, and she and her husband moved to a home south of Waterloo in an area named Hickory Hollow. Her experience interacting with children and parents of other cultures and living abroad, as well as her knowledge of working with children, led her to start a new career in the Education Department at Upper Iowa, Fayette, teaching diversity, grammar for teachers and teacher education classes, and supervising student teachers and field experience students. Although she retired from teaching there officially in 2005, she continued to supervise student teachers and field experience students for UIU with the various centers throughout Iowa through 2009.

After retirement the second time, Pam compiled a book for the Dysart Historical Society: Dysart’s Orphan Train Children, about her grandmother McNamee, who came to Iowa in 1893 on an Orphan Train from New York City with the Children’s Aide Society. This began her writing career, and she compiled a total of sixteen books about family members by the time she was finished. She also enjoyed cooking and canning, traveling, attending get-togethers, playing pinochle and riding around in her Gator or golf cart.

Pam was diagnosed with MDS in 2007, and by 2011, it had progressed into Acute Myeloid Leukemia. She received a stem cell transplant in September of 2011 and enjoyed many more years of life until it reoccurred in 2023 and then again in 2025.

Pam was preceded in death by her parents, her sister Judy Summers, and a stillborn brother. She is survived by her husband, Fred Koch, of Buckingham; one nephew, Alan Summers (Cindi), of Bondurant; three nieces; Jane Summers, of Indianola, Kimberly Landon (Paul), of Williamsburg, and Nancy Baldus (Tony), of Ankeny; five great-nephews and one great-niece; two great-great nieces and one great-great nephew; two sisters-in-law, Sondra Ikey and Paula Sue Koch, of St. Clairsville, Ohio, and a brother-in-law, Sam Koch (Kitty), of Barnesville, Ohio plus three nephews and a niece as well as four great-nieces and four great-nephews and one great-great nephew on that side of the family. She also has many cousins.

Pam touched many lives in her years on earth, including over 2500 five-year-olds and 500 college students whom she taught, including many Upper Iowa wrestlers and future teachers.

She will be missed by her many relatives and hundreds of friends and former students around the world.

Pam’s family would like to express their gratitude for the exceptional and compassionate care given by Cedar Valley Hospice and MercyOne Waterloo Medical Center.

A Celebration of Pam’s life will be held at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, May 2, 2026, at Locke at Tower Park, 4140 Kimball Ave., Waterloo, Iowa 50701, with visitation from 10-11 a.m. Interment will be held in the Dysart Cemetery. In honor of Pam and her love for UIU, she requests that everyone come in Peacock Blue.

Memorials may be directed to: Leukemia and Lymphoma Association, Peacock Pantry at UIU, and Dysart Ambulance.

Locke at Tower Park is in charge of arrangements 319-233-3146. Online condolences may be left at www.lockefuneralservices.com.