mood: shocked, now sombre.
state i'm in: shocked, now sombre.
tune: turin brakes "the door"
found out some pretty shocking news tonight. an old school friend was killed about two months ago. she made the news, but the event bypassed me in my post-exam haze.
now i guess this is where the usual eulogic cliches come out. was she "fun loving," "a livewire," "a beautiful girl who would never hurt anyone"?
the fact of the matter was that yes, pam fitzpatrick was a lovely girl. we were fairly good friends in high school, but not really since. nevertheless, i can remember necking a few vodkas together, laughing with her 'til my sides were sore a few times, and always scoring a hug from her.
i can never recall her being a bitchy girl, never bad-mouthing people. she had long blonde hair, amazing green contact lenses, and a weak south african accent. i can still hear pam's voice, i can still picture her eyes, and i can still see her generous breasts in that notoroius mansfield high tunic. the boys thought she was pretty special, but most of them found her too attractive to approach i think.
since we all left school, pam became a nurse, and worked with people with disabilities, in particular quadri- and paraplaegics, and with the 'sporting wheelies'. she always had a warm heart.
pam was shot in the neck whilst drinking with her sister and friend at a nightclub in kanchanaburi, west of bangkok. she was merely a bystander, caught up in the conflict between rival nightclubs, some locally-owned, others expat-owned. pam survived on life support for near on three days before she died, with her family by her side. she was cremated in thailand.
i have an old photo at my parents place of the two of us, my arm around her, both with wide smiles, taken outside the science block i think. i can't wait to have a look at it when i visit their place next.
R.I.P. Pamela Fitzpatrick
1 comment:
Hi Jared, thanks for the email & link to your life & thoughts...!while nearly all people my age are well & truly in bed by now (and i am a little weary) i feel i can feel for you with the passing of an old school friend. Since leaving school way back in 1969..i have really only had contact since with one guy in my class-we were avid Seekers fans...there i've said it - however there was another fellow in our class we used to hang around with.(not sure of his sexuality then..i was the only homo in the world then anyway)...but i heard in later years that he had become a policeman..so he's definately straight..then sometime during the 1980's (can't remember when exactly as i'm old remember!!)...i read that he was killed in an accident...car,i think, probably a chase or something). I really wanted to attend the funeral but as fate would have it a load of soil prevented me from doing so....and he was the one being interred!!! So it came to pass that our lawn missed out on the soil delivery that day and i missed out on the opportunity that day of delivering my sympathies to Paul's (his name was Paul too..) family, whom of course i never knew, and maybe encounter others of our old school mates from Padua College who may have attented. It's just been there in my mind all these years and i don't know why really...you, young man missed your friend Pam's passing for much different reasons but i feel i have little inkling of how you are feeling...keep her in your thoughts as she just nearby.....perhaps at 2 o'clock..!!
Love your blog...whatever that means...i'm old rememeber...and i'll keep re-reading it to better understand it...i'm feeling younger already...!!
Great having Karl with us b/4 he heads of to Canandaville....wish you were with us too....much love. xP.
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