In Tribute to Pamela M. Young (1924-2012)


by Brett Lorenzen* T


he Jessup Competition has undergone many changes of the “things will never be the same again” variety in recent de- cades. European (and successive global)


partnerships greatly expanded participation. Com- puters brought amazing efficiencies to the man- agement process. Communications went digital. ILSA was incorporated, and a stable board and corporate spon- sorship brought financial stabil- ity. Scoring and scheduling were computerized, and competition intergity enhanced. The Director position was lengthened. Succes- sive directors and staff built upon changes, refined them, expanded them and keep the growth curve moving ever-upward.


But in the midst of all of those impressive changes, perhaps the greatest change in the Competition’s first five de- cades came with Pamela Young’s retirement from her role as Assistant Administrator, which she held from 1974 through 1994.


fire burned longer, and had a more lasting impact, than that of Pamela Young. And 20 years after her retirement, this is still the case.


IN TRIBUTE to Pamela M. Youn


was born in the late 1920s near London, just as the world was entering a global de father did well, but her family lived modestly. She was raised in an environment th individual responsibility, stressed the importance of charity, and most importantly i traditional sense of fairness, equality, compassion and the proper conduct of social received, as she would later say with great pride, “a proper conservative English up-b


To understand how Pamela Young came to be so important to the Jessup Competition requires un- derstanding the journey that brought her to ILSA. She was born near London, as the world entered a global de- pression. Her father did well, but her family lived modestly. She was raised in an environ- ment that encouraged indi- vidual responsibility, stressed charity, and instilled a very tradi- tional sense of fairness, equal- ity, compassion and the proper conduct of social relations. She received, as she would later say with great pride, “a proper con- servative English up-bringing.”


I discussed in a tribute to Pamela for the 50th An- niversary of the Jessup the impotant role of those who worked behind-the-scenes at the Compe- tition—from the staff and core volunteers to the friends of the Jessup to the sponsors who pay the bills. For 20 years, Pamela Young served as the primary source of the enthusiasm that drove the volunteer engine of the Jessup, while simulta- neously being the face of the Competition to the thousands of students who participated during her term. Though the Jessup Competition owes its success to many who have made unparalleled commitments, there is no single individual whose


As a teenager Pamela worked as a secretary at the Canadian Mission in London, an nightly terror of blackouts and rockets roaring overhead to their targets in the city c several of her schoolmates during that period – perhaps the harshest introduction o at that age to the occasional brutality of the world at large. She was just coming into the United States unleashed the atomic bomb, the pall of the Cold War subsequ Europe, and the United Nations emerged from the post-war negotiations.


After the war she moved to Paris, where she soon became the young bride of an a diplomat in the employ of the World Bank. For the next 20 years she followed h world from station to station, mo


ILSA Quarterly » volume 20 » issue 4 » May 2012


the way their fam oifly grew, and she cheerfully juggled several children against the c demands of a diplomatic spouse. And while the experience proved fulfilling in nume again often found m herself in the midst of the worst of mankind’s excesses: more bundled her children in the dead of night to flee the wars of independence and genoci the African continent and Asia in the 1950s and 60s. The stories she would share o tea – always in private with “her Directors,” as such stories weren’t “proper” for tellin – were enough to keep us awake at night. While those stories aren’t appropriate to r happy occasion, it can be said with confidence that Pamela witnessed more of mank for brutality during that period than many on the front lines of the human rights mo


As a teenager Pamela worked as a secretary at the Canadian Mission in London, and endured the nightly terror of blackouts and rockets roaring over- head. She lost several schoolmates during that pe- riod – perhaps the harshest introduction one can receive to the occasional brutality of the world at large. After the war she moved to Paris, where she soon became the young bride of an aspiring British diplomat in the employ of the World Bank. For the next 20 years she followed him around the world from station to station. Along the way their family grew, and she cheerfully juggled sev- eral children against the constant social demands a diplomatic spouse. And while the experience proved fulfilling, she again found herself in the idst of the worst of mankind’s excesses: more than once she bundled her children in the dead of


often in the farthest reaches of Africa and the F


Though the Jessup Competition owes its success, an many who made unparalleled commitments in its – from those who will be acknowledged at publ those quietly toasted in numerous small gathering is perhaps no single individual whose fire burned lo a more lasting impact on the Jessup Competition Pamela Young.


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To understand how Pamela Young came to be so im Jessup Competition, and in turn the Competition to understanding a bit of the journey that brought he


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