A New Identity

At the end of February, after working here for almost 40 years, I will be leaving the paper and starting to figure out who Pam is if she isn’t at the paper. 

When I first moved to Basin as a newlywed from Wisconsin, I would introduce myself as Mike Dellos’s wife. People had no idea who the girl from Wisconsin with the funny accent was, but if I said who I was married to, people accepted me a little more and it was easier to fit into the community because I was a Dellos. He had grown up here and people recognized the family name.

As the kids started coming along, you start meeting other parents with small children in the church nursery or at the park and eventually at the school. You start being identified not just as Mike’s wife but Megan’s mom or Chad’s mom. We all knew what happened after the hit song “Stacy’s Mom” came out and my daughter Staci was born. I really had it going on then.

But I wanted to be identified as more than just Mike’s wife or my kid’s mom. Don’t get me wrong, I love those roles. In fact, I always tell everyone, I graduated with a M.R.S degree from college and I have used that degree for almost 45 years now. 

So, as any intelligent person would do, I looked in the classifieds of the Basin Republican Rustler to see if maybe there was something I could do to fill that desire to be known for something else. Chad was just a baby, and I didn’t want to be away from him too long, but just get out for a bit and talk to an adult or two. There it was, under the help wanted section of the paper, “Wanted: An individual to clean the office for just an hour or two once or twice a month.” So, I made the call and got the job. I became the gal who made the office clean and the place smell fresh. I was appreciated for doing those simple things.

When then-publisher Eric and Linda Adams began to move into the computer age, they had an opening for someone to print labels off this fancy new computer and stay the afternoon to mail out the paper. I was offered the position, and I took it because it still allowed me to be home with my kids. My position grew as people came and went here at the office. I filled in anywhere I was needed. I proofread ads and legals, placed ads on pages, answered phones and took on the bookkeeping. I was the steady eddy and became “Pam from the paper.”

This title has served me well. I have loved my job and all the wonderful people I have met and talk to as they called in to the newspaper for various reasons. I will miss my snowbirds as you call in to let me know you’re flying the coop to warmer weather. I became so attached to my subscribers and it has saddened me to receive a call from a son or daughter to cancel a parent’s longtime subscription because they had passed away.

After working here for so many years, I found I really do love to serve and take care of others. The title “work wife” has been attached to my name from my co-worker’s mouth a few times as I brought in goodies and smoothie samples, essential oil treatments when she was sick, a Norwex cleaning rag to go after a dirty keyboard and a problem solver when the computer wouldn’t work right. I will definitely miss the comradery and laughs. I think my heart is stronger from all the surprise attacks done on me by her. 

I’m thankful for all the people I have worked with both past and present and there have been plenty. However, it is time for me to hang up my newspaper hat. I’m hoping with more time on my hands I will be able to get to know my grandkids better because Grandma Pam from Wyoming is one identity I think I will love so much and keep for a long, long time.