Hoag - Newport Beach
Our Stories

Pamela Stowers lived her life as an example of kindness in action. Put simply, she loved to help people. Born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, she graduated from Southwest High School and attended Penn Valley Community College where she earned an Emergency Medical Technician certification. Early in her career she developed her love for being of service in her role as a customer service representative for her father’s company, American Century Investments in Kansas City.

Co-workers from those days speak of her carefree spirit, infectious laugh and her compassionate and giving nature.

Touching Lives at Hoag

In 1998 Pam moved to Newport Beach and became involved as an Auxiliary volunteer at Hoag Hospital Newport Beach in the Emergency Department. In her six years as a Hoag volunteer, the personable Pam was known for her beautiful smile and warmth as she assisted patients and their families admitted to the Emergency Department.

Fellow Hoag Auxiliary volunteer and close friend Jeanne Potter remembers that Pam was enthusiastic about helping others. “Volunteering at Hoag gave her so much happiness,” Jeanne reminisces. “She wanted to make people coming to the emergency room feel comfortable and to let them know that they were important. I dearly loved her and miss her terribly.”

Very well liked in the Emergency Department, Pam made a lot of good friends that she kept in touch with when she left Hoag Auxiliary in 2004. “Pam was always so enthusiastic about helping others. She often mentioned to me how she enjoyed volunteering at Hoag,” says Sheri Sumner, director, Volunteer Services at Hoag. “Her wonderful smile and friendly attitude was appreciated by everyone she came in contact with.” Pam gave of herself for shear joy of it. ”Pam epitomized what is great about this community and about Hoag which is service to our fellow man without fanfare,” says Richard Afable, M.D., Hoag president and CEO. “She was an anonymous volunteer who wanted no other thanks than the knowledge that she’d touched someone’s life in whatever way she could.”

Loving Family Ties

Pam was survived by her loving mother and father, Virginia and Jim Stowers; her sister Kathleen Stowers-Potter and husband Jim and their children Lauren, Ryan and Alex of Denver, Colorado; her sister Linda Stowers of Kansas City, and her children Alex, JJ, Patrick and Brian; her brother Jim III and his wife Michele of Shawnee Mission, Kansas and their children Layne and James IV and many other aunts, uncles, cousins and extended family.A much loved daughter, sister and devoted aunt to her nieces and nephews, Pam never forgot a birthday. “She was a very kind and giving person,” says sister, Linda. “She dearly loved her family and was especially close to her nieces and nephews.”

A Legacy of Love

Supporting others in their time of need gave her life great meaning. After leaving Hoag, she worked tirelessly as a drug and alcohol counselor in hopes of helping to positively redirect many lives. She was very touched when she received a note from the mother of a drug addicted teen that simply stated, “I owe you dearly. You saved my daughter’s life.”Not only did Pam reach out to help others during her life time, upon her death she bestowed a great gift to all who walk through the halls of Hoag. Her $1 million bequest to the Hoag Hospital Newport Beach Emergency Department is a fitting legacy to a loving soul who devoted her life to the comfort and care of others.