Pamela Lynn Ellinghausen Greenholt

June 24, 1953 – October 19, 2024

Fighter until the end. On October 19th, 2024, Mom finished her third battle with cancer, fighting with a body that ultimately wasn’t as strong as she was. After more than a year of metastatic lung cancer constraining her brain, her lungs, her bones, her liver, she is finally free.

We are so thankful for her dear friends Karen and Gabrielle and the team at Mountain Valley Hospice for allowing her to go at home, with dignity. Jen was there with her until the end, playing her hymns and singing her “Edelweiss” one last time.

Rest easy, Mom, you were so very loved.

Pam is survived by her three siblings, David Ellinghausen (Martha), Rebecca Latuche (Lenny), and Heidi McGowan (Tom); her two daughters, Kristen Douthit (Jon) and Jen Greenholt (Mark); and three grandchildren, Samuel, Elijah and Ruthlyn Douthit. She is preceded in death by her husband of 44 years, H.R “Chandy” Greenholt, Jr. and her parents, Patricia Nelson Ellinghausen and Walter Adsmond Ellinghausen.

Pam is the oldest daughter of a Naval officer. She spent most of her childhood moving every two years, cross-country, with the Navy. Large parts of her craved a simple life, and she told us many times that she was meant for a different era, preferably one with hard work, no technology, and a slower pace of life.

She graduated from Princess Anne High School in Virginia and attended Lenoir Rhyne College, where she studied math and science education. There, she met Chandy while singing in the choir at the local Lutheran Church. She taught middle school after graduation until she and Dad started a family, and then she came home to fulfill another dream of being a stay-at-home mom.

After a bout of breast cancer as a young mom, she felt compelled to homeschool her two daughters. Lifelong educators, even after we graduated, Mom and Dad continued tutoring others. Pam was beloved and respected within the homeschool community, deeply valued for the ways in which she challenged students and loved them deeply. She was known for her homemade, fresh cookies, which she had at the ready for every student who walked through her doors. She tutored and taught hundreds of students over the years and made a positive lasting impact on many lives.

Pam loved her animals deeply, and before getting married and having kids, she dreamed of becoming a veterinarian. She loved horses from a young age and found great solace and comfort in being down at the barn. She used to say that she felt closest to God in the wee hours of the morning at the barn. We used to joke that cats dying of cancer, guinea pigs with ingrown teeth, rabid raccoons, decrepit horses, and every other sick or dying animal would somehow wind up at her door because they knew they would find gentle and compassionate care and, many times, be nursed back to health. I think in some ways, animals accepted her just the way she was and found solace in her as well.

Mom was a woman of great faith, never wavering from her assurance that she would see loved ones again, and confident that the life after this one is glorious and free. Even when her chemo failed and she faced her ultimate end, she was confident in the assurance of a beautiful after life. She prayed daily at the barn and was known to encourage her comforters in their faith as they came to visit.

No one will be able to replicate her homemade rolls or chocolate chip cookies, ever, no matter how hard we try. Her legacy within the homeschool community is lasting and meaningful. And her love for her animals was a deep, true representation of her desire to nurture and to love those in need. We rise up and call her loved, delighted in, and of inherent value.

We honor your life, Mom. We hope that you are finally healed, free, and without fear. We hope that your animals do go to heaven and that your heart is full of timeless delight. And we will endeavor to continue to pursue freedom and to shake off fear in your honor.

We love you, Mom.

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