Pamela Marie (Cologero) Bement

Pamela Bement was born September 30, 1959 at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. From her first breath, she was a blessing to the entire world. Pam grew up primarily in Maryland, spending a great deal of time with her grandmother Ruth, and grandfather Randolph, as well as her mother Ruthie, father Vince, and beloved sister Glenda. As a little girl, she found joy in riding in the back of Randolph’s truck, selling homegrown flowers to the town.

As a preteen, Pam moved to Oklahoma where she fell in love with a life of horses, tarantulas, and prairie dogs. However, Oklahoma was a short lived experience and her parents moved back to the Washington, DC metro area for her father’s job. 

At 19 years old, Pamela was attending Northern Virginia Community College when she met the love of her life, Tony Bement, as he flirtatiously pulled on her ponytail during class and persistently asked her out. After a rather notable first date, Pam and Tony realized they were made for each other and following a whirlwind courtship they got married on July 26, 1980 in Springfield, Virginia. Pam gave birth to her first child, Michael Anthony Bement, the next year. He was a joy to her from the moment he was born.

Pam ran her own jewelry business and continued her education until she and Tony welcomed their second child, Jennifer Louise Bement. Pam found her true calling in raising her children, providing the most tender love a mother could give. She was that Mom who everyone wanted to hang around, feeding and loving every friend her children brought home. She brought a bright light to the world, loving every person she encountered as if she knew them from birth. Pamela Marie Bement was the ultimate example of unconditional and selfless love in every single facet of her life. 

Upon moving to Gunston Manor in Lorton, Virginia, she began volunteering at the nearby plantation museum, Gunston Hall, and continued her jewelry business, Stone Style. Pam became a docent at Gunston Hall and dedicated as much time as she could to teaching school groups about the history of the United States. She reenacted historical roles for various celebrations at the plantation. She loved nothing more than teaching and lending her expertise for the betterment of the next generation, intending to prevent history from repeating itself through a hands-on education. 

Later in life, Pamela had her third child, Robert Arnold Bement. At 37 years old, she survived a complicated pregnancy that nearly took her life. Always a warrior, she pulled through and survived so she could continue spreading joy and providing the best care a mother could give to her new baby and her other children.

Shortly after Robert was born, Tony’s job relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina. Although she was sad to leave her hands-on work with history behind, Pam found joy in her new location and became a central figure in the neighborhood, always with an open door to neighbors and their children.

She continued to teach every chance she got, volunteering at her children’s school. Though this new role was perhaps not as fulfilling for her, Pam was able to turn any situation into something worthwhile. She was the room mom in nearly every classroom and dedicated her time to spreading her love and knowledge. 

As her children grew, she continued to provide boundless love and support. She pushed them to do their best in the most meaningful way. She is responsible for the success of each of them, as well as that of many of their friends. Pam was the type of mother that would drive in heavy rain to drop off care packages for her sick young adult children and answer late night phone calls when they needed her tenderness.

As the world can be cruel and unfortunate, Pam was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer and fought a battle that most soldiers wouldn’t have survived. She pulled through into remission and bounced back like nothing ever happened.

Pamela became a grandmother to two beautiful children of Michael and his fiancé Jennifer Lawton, Joesph Michael and Lillyann Elizabeth Rose. As “Nona” she gave the greatest bursts of love that she could ever provide and helped guide her son and his fiancé through the beginning stages of parenthood.

Michael was lost suddenly in 2013, devastating the entire family. Pam became the light in their world and stepped up in ways that most people would not have had the strength for. Her role as Nona became an integral part of Joesph and Lilly’s life. She and Jennifer Lawton formed a close mother-daughter like bond throughout the process.

A years after Michael passed, Pam was diagnosed with stage four metasis in a very rare form. The doctors gave her six months prognosis but Pamela wasn’t one to take that as a final answer. She sought treatment at the Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Newnan, GA. Throughout the fight, she and her family, primarily her daughter Jennifer, or “Jenny,” commuted on a regular basis for her treatment.

Pam made the battling monsters look like a piece of cake. She took her treatment in stride and made the best of every situation, regardless of how awful it was. In the process of this journey, she and Jenny bonded in ways that most mothers and daughters would envy. They became the best of friends and turned the dark clouds cast over her into a nice shade on a hot day.

Regardless of the pain she was in, she never faltered in her role as Nona and mother to Robert, pushing him like the two children before to be the best version of themselves. However, it wasn’t terribly hard because her children were half of her which instilled the greatest of love in them from birth and then from example.

Three years into her battle, treatment became more complex due to a brain aneurysm that she treated like a mild setback but requiring a new regimen of chemotherapy. After attempting the other cancer treatment, the shade she created became a black cloud once more that began an intense storm. She danced in the rain as she took the most brutal treatment an oncologist could offer. Pam fought as a true warrior woman who hung on to continue to spread the joy and love she had to offer to the world. 

However, sometimes storms become hurricanes that one cannot avoid. She fought harder than any human being could, traveling back and forth to the treatment center to slay the beast, all while assisting greatly in planning her daughter’s wedding. 

As her health began to decline, Pam was determined to stay around. She stepped up courageously in situations that most would give up on immediately. She was a light that didn’t want to stop shining. As the prognoses got worse, she fought harder, intending to make her daughter’s wedding, which she did with a huge smile on her face.

Shortly after the wedding, Pam grew tired but didn’t lose the battle. She curtsied out graciously to go home to God and no longer suffer. She hung on long enough to see her daughter and new son-in-law once more then passed peacefully at home next to her after a day of Doctor Who marathons in bed with her family, including her mother, father, and sister. 

Pam was a blessing to this world. She brought joy to every single person she met. The extinguishing of her light was a loss for not only her family but for the world. No other person will ever carry the love, kindness and selflessness she provided to every person she met. To her, everyone was family, and those she held close she loved with every fiber of her being. 

While her light has gone out where we can see it, Pam shines on in heaven where they certainly rolled out the red carpet and angels trumpeted as she proceeded through the pearly gates to be with her son and lost loved ones again. She will now be a guardian angel with Jesus, watching over all of us with love uncontested by any other being on this planet.

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