Pamela Joan Budge, 66, passed away on July 4th, 2024 at her home in Seattle, Washington.

Pam was born on August 31st, 1957, in Billings, Montana to Michael and Roberta Gesuale. Pam was the first child of four, and took on the role of mediator and babysitter to her siblings Catherine, Peter, and Steven as needed. Michael and Roberta, both teachers, pushed Pam to succeed academically and she did, first at Billings West High School, and later at Montana State University where she pursued a degree in nursing. This in turn led to a job opportunity that would begin a long, rewarding and incredibly impactful career.

Pam moved to Washington State and began working at Seattle Children’s Hospital in 1986. During her time at Children’s, Pam found success in a variety of positions, first as a nurse in the hospital’s pediatric intensive care unit, and later in the emergency room, otolaryngology, the adolescent and gender clinic and finally in the hospital’s plastics department. Pam is remembered by her peers as a dear friend, mentor to new staff, as an advocate for her colleagues’ fair treatment, and for the endless empathy and care she showed her patients and colleagues.

During her time at the hospital, Pam somehow found time for two children of her own: Drew, born in 1989, and Claire in 1993, famously born on her mother’s birthday. As a parent, Pam demonstrated the same sensitivity she afforded her patients, always caring and willing to indulge her kids in whatever niche interest they wanted to discuss at length. Pam also provided a home for a series of rescue cats and dogs, several of whom demonstrated ridiculous behavior that would have leveled a lesser pet-owner.

Pam retired in 2022 after nearly forty years at Children’s Hospital and for the first time in decades found herself with much-deserved time to spare, which she spent visiting family and reconnecting with old friends. Pamela is survived by her children, Drew and Claire, her mother, Roberta, and by her siblings, Catherine, Peter, and Steven. Memorial donations may be made out to World Central Kitchen (https://wck.org/donate). 

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