Coaches and co-workers described her as “pleasant”… “always willing to help” … “memory like an elephant” … “endless kindness” … “genuine smile” … “and there will never be another one like you here at Otterbein; perhaps anywhere.”

Pam Verne, trailblazer and regular fixture in the Otterbein Athletics Department, served first as secretary to the men’s athletic director then later as executive assistant to the athletic director for men and women under athletics directors Dr. Elmer "Bud" Yoest and Dick Reynolds, both members of the Otterbein Athletics Hall of Fame, for more than 30 years, from 1976 to 2006.

“When I first came and interviewed with Dr. Yoest, he asked if I could work under stress,” Pam recalled. “He said I would be working for an office of all men that would think their work was the most important.  I guess, with a husband that worked many hours, me raising three kids and 30 years on the job, I must have been able to work under stress.”

Pam’s tasks were endless, some of which were taking care of all correspondence requested by the AD and coaching staff; handling contracts for part-time personnel; preparing purchase orders and seeing that bills were paid; handling travel arrangements for team travel; ticketing; and game day management.

Pam was usually the first person one saw when coming to an Otterbein football or basketball game. She ran the ticket booth. She began working at Otterbein when her youngest child, Michael, started elementary school. Michael and his two sisters, Devonie and Teresa, all graduated from Otterbein.

“Otterbein has been like a second home,” Verne said. Devonie and Teresa were cheerleaders, and Michael played baseball, later serving as a student coach under head baseball coach and Hall of Famer Dick Fishbaugh. Devonie met her husband, Pat Bennett, who ran track, at Otterbein. Pam’s husband, Dave, worked the home football and basketball games as well.

“Pam has been a stable part of the department for many years—not just service to the department, but an ambassador to the community as well,” Reynolds said upon her retirement. “Her efforts to serve the community, college and department have been done in a professional manner and with the utmost congeniality.”

Pam and her husband, Dave, a former detective with the Columbus Division of Police and zoning enforcement officer for Westerville, spend a great deal of time now with their 10 grandchildren and live in Westerville.