133 - Pam Peterson Armor - Last of the Col-Hi Wildcats 1982 podcast

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As we approach our 40th year, I interview friends from my graduating class of 1982, The College High Wildcats. This class held the distinction of being the last graduating class of College High School before the name was changed to Bartlesville High School.  Sooner High School and College High were combined into one school called Bartlesville High School.

In this episode, I visit with Col-Hi Wildcat, Pam Peterson Armor about her life growing up in Oak Park, kids, teaching, high school friends, high school parties, as well as dealing with the ups and downs in life.  

You can contact Pam Peterson Armor at parmor@wcsks.com or on Facebook.

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Transcript

Narrator: 0:01

Welcome to the Last of the Col-Hi Wildcasts 1982 podcast, brought to you by Deetsoman Production

Chris Hayes: 0:14

you know, you go to college and you're on this all star team. So I would tell myself that, really don't listen to that voice inside your head that tells you you're not good enough. And probably the other thing I would tell myself is get more sleep. Not everyone's gonna like you, but try to make them watch and I'm working on that one.

Kent Hudson: 0:37

People say, Well, I'm not going to have kids yet, because it's not the right time or I'm not gonna get married yet. It's not the right time. Well, if you keep moving the goalposts in line, it's never gonna be the right time.

John Hensley: 0:46

So enjoy your life. Do what you love, figure out a way to make that work. Don't Don't do something because that's what you're supposed to do, because it's kind of something that makes you happy. They go to landers for lunch, sitting around Jeff Blair's Mustang II

Mark Thompson: 1:11

and listening to his tape of Pink Floyd's The wall.

Scott Townsend: 1:28

Hey, this is Scott Townsend. Welcome back to the Last of the Col-Hi Wildcasts 1982 podcast. And today I'm with royalty. Hi call Hi day royalty, the Queen Pam Peterson armor Pam, how's it going?

Pam Peterson Armor: 1:44

It's great. Thank you. How are you?

Scott Townsend: 1:46

I'm doing great. Yeah, just I'm glad we were able to finally get the schedules worked out where we could do this interview.

Pam Peterson Armor: 1:55

That's awesome. Yes, I'm off school from for Christmas break. So it's a great time for me.

Scott Townsend: 2:01

So what do you have for breakfast this morning? We'll start off with a softball question.

Pam Peterson Armor: 2:05

What do I have for breakfast I had? Well, I always make my husband biscuits and gravy on Sunday. So on Monday, I usually have a leftover biscuit. So that was

Scott Townsend: 2:13

Oh, all right. And so where are you calling what I had. from? Or where in the world are you?

Pam Peterson Armor: 2:21

I am back where I started from. I'm in Wichita, Kansas. I was born here and came back here when I was about 40. So Wichita, Kansas where I am. Oh,

Scott Townsend: 2:30

I know you're from Wichita.

Pam Peterson Armor: 2:32

Well, I was born in Wichita and moved to Bartlesville when I was about four, so

Scott Townsend: 2:36

Okay. All right. Yeah. So you know, just it's Pam Peterson everybody knows you. What, but you know, we haven't you and I haven't at least haven't spoken in the last 39 years. So what do you what have you been up to? What? Give us the... sum it all up for us? What's what's what's been going on?

Pam Peterson Armor: 2:58

Okay, let's see, I went to OU and I roomed with Lauren Rolfing and suitemates were Lori Llist and Lisa Hutchins. So we had a really fun time. And after I graduated, I have an a degree in elementary education with a minor in math, and anybody who knows anything about my high school math would laugh at that. But it's because I had to take so many classes in math because I was so bad at it. So I have a minor in math. And that's kind of fun. Moved all around, ended up I'm in Wichita, Kansas now. And I teach fourth grade math, which again is hilarious, because but to me, it's the greatest job in the world. So I have three kids. They're really fun. And to whatone of them is still in high school, Cameron, you'll see him on Facebook, sometimes I put a little basketball stuff with him. Ali's in Dallas, she's a CPA with EY and Austin just moved back from DC and he lives about a mile from us. And he's working in politics. So

Scott Townsend: 4:03

Wow. So you know it's so you went to OU afterOU what did you said you got your degree in education. And you started right out teaching

Pam Peterson Armor: 4:18

I moved to Dallas with one of my college friends and we taught in Dallas for three years then got married and moved to New Orleans and taught there for several years and okay. So yeah, we've been teaching off and on. I stayed home with my kids. And then when we moved to Wichita, my goal was to always teach at a school where I could teach with my kids and the school I teach at now starts with two year olds. So my son who is 18 has been with me since he was two, which is so much fun.

Scott Townsend: 4:48

Oh yeah, that's awesome. Yeah. Well, I got some lightning round questions. We'll get some of these. These are just like yes or no questions. Just one word answers, you know, just just Your favorite teacher? High School,

Pam Peterson Armor: 5:03

Mrs. Smith, because she was just awesome. Yes.

Scott Townsend: 5:07

Favorite class?

Pam Peterson Armor: 5:10

Oh, gosh. I would say the class I was most proud of was Mr. Simmons class. Because to me, that was really hard. And I think he pulled out the best in me. So I would say that had to be Mr. Simmons class What car did you drive. You know, I didn't have my own car. So I drove my mom's my mom and I shared a Mustang. So I had a pretty cool car. But it was not mine. It was my mom's, so

Scott Townsend: 5:37

no, that's cool. Yeah. If we were to drop you off on a desert island, and you had plenty of food and water, we got that out of the way. What's the one other thing you would want left with you?

Pam Peterson Armor: 5:53

That's hard. Can it be a person?

Scott Townsend: 5:58

I guess so.

Pam Peterson Armor: 6:01

I'd have to have somebody for for company because I talk a lot. So, gosh, and it would probably be my son Austin, because he's pretty sorry to my husband, but my son Austin can figure out things pretty well. So I would say probably my son Austin.

Scott Townsend: 6:21

Okay, there you go. All right. Well, you know, I was looking to the yearbook and chatting, you know, doing some research and studying up on what you were doing in high school. And so you know, you it looks like you were in Hi-Y do you remember that?

Pam Peterson Armor: 6:37

Yes, I do.

Scott Townsend: 6:39

And, of course, I said earlier, you were the Col-Hi , I'd like to I'd like to camp out here for just a minute. The Col-Hi Day queen was that. So, were you the homecoming queen? Or was it the just the Col-Hi Day queen?

Pam Peterson Armor: 6:56

Yeah, it was the homecoming queen.

Scott Townsend: 6:58

Okay. All right. So what was that? Like? I mean, what? I just barely remember that. What was the whole process like?

Pam Peterson Armor: 7:06

You know, it was very, um, I still can't believe it. Just, you know, especially because I work at a school that has a high school now. That's a really huge thing every year. Oh, yeah. It was really, really humbling, I would say,

Scott Townsend: 7:20

You and Greg Brewer, he was the king, you were the queen.

Pam Peterson Armor: 7:23

Greg Brewer was the king. Which, you know, again, in itself, that's just it was just, I was very shocked. I had no idea. And

Scott Townsend: 7:35

how did you get voted in it? Was it a vote? Or

Pam Peterson Armor: 7:38

Well, I think, I think what they told me was it? afterwards was that the whole senior class just nominated, just nominate whoever they wanted. And then they put it to the top three. And it was Rhonda and Dana and I, oh, you know, they're just amazing people in itself. So it was I was in and then I guess the whole class voted. I don't really remember. It's just such a long time ago.

Scott Townsend: 8:07

Yeah, I know.

Pam Peterson Armor: 8:09

But it was it was, it was a very big honor. I was I was, you know, you know, I was I was very proud. It was a very proud moment. So

Scott Townsend: 8:17

can you describe the picture of you and Matt Newman in the yearbook?

Pam Peterson Armor: 8:22

The one where he's, like, smacking me kissing me and all that stuff? Is that the one you're talking

Scott Townsend: 8:29

Yeah. about?

Pam Peterson Armor: 8:30

Well, I mean, it's just, you know, Matt, it's just so fun. And it makes you so comfortable. That yeah, and here's the thing that I remember is you don't ever know who's gonna kiss you. I think it's the football captain of the day, or the football captain of the week or something like that.

Scott Townsend: 8:45

So what were you was this at a football game? Or was this in

Pam Peterson Armor: 8:49

the middle of the football fields? So

Scott Townsend: 8:51

yeah, okay.

Pam Peterson Armor: 8:53

And he gave and gave me a nice big kiss. So, and we laugh about it. I think every time we see each other, which was in college, we saw each other a lot. And it was our guess that's how we, you know, you know, remember each other

Scott Townsend: 9:07

relate to each other?

Pam Peterson Armor: 9:08

Yeah, we relate to each other because we were both at the middle of football field, you know.

Scott Townsend: 9:12

So I thought the king and the queen were together. I guess that's not the way it went.

Pam Peterson Armor: 9:17

I think somebody else kissed the king. And I want to say it was Jennifer Williams, but I don't know why I think that. I don't know why I don't I don't remember why you would think the king of the Queen would kiss but now. It's not that way.

Scott Townsend: 9:31

Okay, so I'll have to get with Greg. Next. I want to interview Greg. That's one of the questions I'll have. Yes. Please

Pam Peterson Armor: 9:37

ask him because I would like to it again. It's been a long time, so I don't really remember.

Scott Townsend: 9:41

So it was that that was on a Friday night. Was that right? Is that right? Yes. And I don't think we won that football game that night.

Pam Peterson Armor: 9:49

No, we didn't. I didn't remember that. Because someone told me everybody wins their homecoming football game and I said we didn't. We had great football players.

Scott Townsend: 10:00

You were also in the Rifle Corps.

Pam Peterson Armor: 10:02

I was and that was really fun. So what was that like ? You know, it was really fun we had you know, Mary Kay and Kim and I that grew up together in Oak Park. And so we were all on it. And then it was just fun. It was just fun to be part of the band. I was always in the band, but I'd never in high school never played an instrument because I was terrible, because I probably didn't practice.

Scott Townsend: 10:29

Let me get my yearbook here.

Pam Peterson Armor: 10:33

So I laugh at like, I was laughing at someone talking about who was first chair and who was this? And I'm thinking, Oh, my gosh, I honestly wasn't. I was in the band. But I was the office manager because I was so terrible. And I was the rifle twirler. So, seriously.

Scott Townsend: 10:48

Here's a picture of you and Richard Whitmeyer. He's escorting you with the

Pam Peterson Armor: 10:55

I think that was junior year maybe. Or was it senior year?

Scott Townsend: 10:58

Yes. Senior year? Yeah. Looks like it. Yeah.

Pam Peterson Armor: 11:01

Oh, hell, I don't remember. I think I think he escorted me at the assembly.

Scott Townsend: 11:08

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's what this looks like. Um, yeah. There was. There was a rifle core picture. Oh, here it is. And you said you said Mary.

Pam Peterson Armor: 11:25

Mary Kay Roark.

Scott Townsend: 11:28

Yeah, yeah, I don't include. I don't see her in this picture, though. It's K. Hayes, K. Smith. Pam Peterson. V. Corley, Valerie Corley. and S. Howard didn't have Mary in here.

Pam Peterson Armor: 11:48

Who knows? Maybe Maybe.

Scott Townsend: 11:50

She might have missed that day's photo

Pam Peterson Armor: 11:53

She may have.

Scott Townsend: 11:54

Yeah. So anyway, yeah. So what was life like growing up in Oak Park? haven't talked to many Oak Park people. Well, you know, you and I, we lived on the same block. You were

Pam Peterson Armor: 12:07

we did you and you and I and Don Heiken he lived on the same light block. Yeah. You know, I loved growing up there. Just because, you know, we walked to school and the school was right beside your house, and elementary school. Right, the elementary school and then we caught the bus by your house to go to Central. Remember that. Anyway, I loved growing up in a park. We just, you know, I went to church out there. So I kind of hung out with everybody. You know, my sisters and brother's ages and you know, all my friends were out there at the time. And I haven't, my parents. I was actually there on Saturday. My parents still live in the same house. Really? On Ramblewood? Yes. They oh my gosh, I know. It's fun to go back and just, you know, see the old hood.

Scott Townsend: 12:55

That. Of course we had Oak Park Elementary across the street and then of course College High was downtown. Bill Robertson, David Gruver. Sandra Yeager mentioned somebody the other day that she played out with I can't remember what that guy's name was. lived on Forest...

Pam Peterson Armor: 13:16

Yes. Grady?

Scott Townsend: 13:18

Grady Wilson. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. David Neerr Charles Pendley. There's a lot of people actually,

Pam Peterson Armor: 13:28

a lot of us out there. Carla Shepard lived out there for a while. Oh, yeah. Uh huh. Billy Robertson. Yeah, Billy.

Scott Townsend: 13:36

Doug McGowan.

Pam Peterson Armor: 13:38

Right. Oh, you're really pulling them out. Kim Smith and Mary Kay, were my friends out there. Yeah, Mary. You remember the party Mary had at our house? What was that? Uh, what was that? I think it was senior skip day. Wasn't that one maybe? Yeah. And they had the new pool and stuff and I remember her dad coming home and I probably don't know if I should say this in his underwear in the garage and her dad popped the, cause luckily her dad was cool, but it was it was I do remember that. Mary Kay and I got a lot a lot. We had a lot of shenanigans together so

Scott Townsend: 14:16

Oh, did you, yeah, that's cool. So look, that goes to my next question. So who were who were your running buddies in high school? Mary Kay and

Pam Peterson Armor: 15:02

Mary Kay and I have always been really close. Still are. I ran with Margaret Tinkle we we probably did a few things we may have had a party at her house or so. Lauren Rolfing and I and Jennifer Williams hung together and then I have with a lot of people from the class below a Gretchen Gallery and Lynne Ball, Linda Yelkin, Susie Riddlebarger, Maggie Moore. We went skiing together every year that group the younger kids, so I, I kind of I was thinking about this because I know you always asked this question. And, you know, I think I was just friends with a lot of people, you know, didn't probably have the, you know, besties that hung out just the two of us. I think I just hang out with a lot of a lot of groups.

Scott Townsend: 15:45

That's cool. You're still stay in touch?

Pam Peterson Armor: 15:52

I still stay in touch Margaret Tinkle and I went to college together went to the same sorority and I still see her. Mary Kay and I we still stay we stay in touch. You know, Lauren and Jennifer are gone. So that's makes me sad. I still you know, so we're, that's concerned. She died of cancer.

Scott Townsend: 16:15

Okay.

Pam Peterson Armor: 16:17

And it was pretty sudden, you know, she just kind of she was just sick and gone. Pretty quick. So,

Scott Townsend: 16:24

wow. Okay, so that okay, all right. So I know Jennifer Lawrence. Jennifer Williams. She married Scott McKissick? Yes. And she lived right down the street. I mean, I can see your house from here. Just when she came back to Bartlesville or something. She was an anesthesiologist or so anyway, yeah. Okay. Well, wow. Lauren Rolfing. Didn't know that. Okay. So we'll start. I'll start back up here. I would like to have Margaret Tinkle on I would like to have Mary Kay on. I think that'd be nice, too. Yeah. I'd love to love to hear their stories. Speaking of stories, that's so story. What are some of the other funny memories you have with with the crew? Oh, that you can tell?

Pam Peterson Armor: 17:13

Well, one time Margaret Tinkle had a party. And it was it her parents were at town, and ended up being a pretty big party with lots of people. And I had just had my tonsils out at 16. So you know, there was probably alcohol. Sorry, Margaret, if I'm telling stories, but so I remember I needed to go, I needed popsicles, because I just had my tonsils out. So Tyson Thill took Margaret's car and took me to get popsicles. But he might have gone a little too fast through, I think Woodland Park, and hit something in which we drove her car back and had the most horrific sound. And so we had to go to wherever she took her car and try to get that fixed the next day. And then I'm not sure if it's the same party or another party. Again, it was with Margaret. And someone punched a hole in her parents wall. So we thought we could just move the picture on the wall over like, you know, three feet and they wouldn't notice. You know, and then her we were

Scott Townsend: 18:20

That probably didn't work.

Pam Peterson Armor: 18:21

It didn't work real well. So I was spending the night we were laying up and up in her bed. And it was like three in the morning and we hear this. Her parents had a fancy car, like something that made a lot of you could definitely tell it was, I don't know, it's like, I can't even think of a really fancy car. But it was a really nice car. We're laying in bed. She goes, I hear my parents coming. And we hadn't vacuumed the floor because we move this. We tried to fix the wall. And that didn't work because we had no clue what we're doing. So we had all this. Oh, wall plaster on the floor trying to fix it in our parents show up at like, three in the morning. And, you know, they knew exactly what we had done. You know, they did, but they were really cool about it. And I don't think I don't think she got in trouble. But anyway, those are two of the things I remember. So Margaret, and I must have gotten a little trouble sometimes. Yeah, it's, uh, those parties always seem to get out of hand pretty quick, you know? High school prom. Yes. Tell me a little bit about that. Well, I went, I was I've decided I must be kind of like, OU you know they had Bud, Berry, Bob. And now Brent, and I went with Brad. Brian, and then your brother Ben. Did you remember that? Yep. Yeah, so I had I had the three B's as well. I'm kind of like OU I guess I like Bs.

Scott Townsend: 19:48

Yeah. He's, yeah, he's a bonehead. No, I'm just kidding. That's that's me being a typical brother.

Pam Peterson Armor: 19:56

Well, again, I was hanging out with the grade below me at that point and I was dating Brian O'Toole who was in college. So I, we just wanted to have fun. So I ended up going with Ben and we ended up hanging out with all the Gretchen and Lynne and Linda and Susie and that whole group from the class below. So that was probably my most fun prom because, you know, I was a senior and there was really nothing to you know, it's just, I considered I was going with, you know, my friend, Ben. So it wasn't like, there was any pressure to, you know, do the prom things if that make any sense.

Scott Townsend: 20:31

I know, we all went out to my aunt's house before for a picture.

Pam Peterson Armor: 20:35

I remember that.

Scott Townsend: 20:36

All that stuff. So that was really cool. What? What was your biggest concern in high school? Yeah,

Pam Peterson Armor: 20:47

I think my biggest concern was probably not being enough. Whether it was not being academic enough, not being nice enough, or, you know, kind enough, my mom always instilled you have to be kinder than necessary. And so I always I look back and hope I was all those things. Hope I was hope I was enough.

Scott Townsend: 21:12

And so what do you think that stems from?

Pam Peterson Armor: 21:18

You know,

Scott Townsend: 21:19

Did you ever become enough?

Pam Peterson Armor: 21:21

I am enough. And that's what I think as you become an adult, you just become who you're supposed to be. And that's why I think I've loved watching all of these, these videos that you've these podcasts that you've done, because I look at these people that I held in such high esteem and and they're all enough and they're all just the coolest people. So, you know, I look at Amy Wallen, and she makes her pies all of November, and she donates the money. And I think that's just the coolest thing. And, you know, I look at Chris Hayes, who still swims all the time. And, you know, Robin Perry still swims all the time I see her on Facebook, it's just really fun for me to see that we all thought we were all enough. And we're all more than enough. We're just we've just become these amazing people. And I wish, you know, go ahead. I was just I wish I wish I knew all everybody, as well as I feel like I know them now just from social media. That to me is that's been the best part of social media is getting to see everybody and oh, they have grandkids or, I have no idea, till I watched your podcast that Chris Zervas had a young one I knew I knew Kent had two little ones. But I had my I had my youngest when I was 38. And I thought I was just ancient. I feel like it's grandmother. So to have people that have kids younger than me, I'm like, Yes, that makes me so happy for them because kids are fun.

Scott Townsend: 22:50

Right You know, a while ago, I, you know, the collective wisdom that we've had on this show, I think there's been about 30 people so far on that you take 30,30 people times 39 years per person. That's 1170 years of wisdom. Wow, that is represented, you know, up to you. And so that's really cool. All the people up to you. It is I almost wish we could take high school students and say you have to watch the series of videos and realize that, you know, it's like Mindy Goodell said, you know, I needed to learn to get over myself. You know, there was so many things that we thought we knew, and we didn't know,

Pam Peterson Armor: 23:35

Right. It has. It's just been fun. It's been I can't wait to watch all the ones you're doing right now. Because there's just everybody I see. It's like, oh, that sounds fun. I can't wait to hear about them. So it's, you're doing a great service for our class. Thank you so much.

Scott Townsend: 23:51

Appreciate that. Yeah. Matt Newman, you, Kurt Rovenstine, Keith Richards. Kim Harrison just signed up. And, and some others are still pending the schedule, but yeah, right. What song takes you back to 1982?

Pam Peterson Armor: 24:13

Oh, my goodness. Well, I'm kind of a I was kind of a country music nerd. So it would probably be something country. Oh, yeah. And then I'm gonna really be nerdy. My parents made me listen to the Statler brothers all the time, all the time. In the eight track player in the car, so yeah, that I'm laughing because everybody else is like some rock'n'roll. Mine's probably the Statler brothers. Something in the Statler brothers or Willie Nelson or something like that. I was. I was, I still love country music but I was a country music nerd back then.

Scott Townsend: 24:49

I didn't know that. Okay, that's cool. Statler brothers. They had that one song. She played tambourine.

Pam Peterson Armor: 24:58

I think so the song I remember what it was called Elizabeth and I loved that song. And so my daughter's middle name is Elizabeth. And my mom probably thinks it's from my great grandmother but it's really from the Statler brothers song. So, something new to learn right there.

Scott Townsend: 25:13

A little inside baseball there.

Pam Peterson Armor: 25:16

Oh, got a giant cat that's trying to help me have the interview. What's the cat's name? Well, that's this one's Brooks. It name was Westbrook after Russell Westbrook. And then now it's just Brooks.

Scott Townsend: 25:28

Yeah. Okay. So, greatest accomplishment since 1982, professional, personal, whatever.

Pam Peterson Armor: 25:37

My greatest accomplishment would be raising three pretty phenomenal kids as a single mom. My first husband left me when my youngest was one. And right. And it was something I never thought would happen. And I was totally blindsided, which I think that's how divorce happens. But I will thank him for giving me the finances to raise them. But I feel like I did most of the the late nights and the school projects and the hockey practice and basketball practice and dance practice pretty much myself. So, you know, I worried that my kids would, again, feel different are not enough for and they are just amazing people. So that is my biggest accomplishment is raising three pretty stellar kids, By myself, I married Clark, my current

Scott Townsend: 26:33

by yoursel? husband, when Cameron he's now 18. He was eight. So he helped me and he wanted to he wanted to find somebody who had little kids. So he he's an amazing father figure to my kids. And they I'm not saying their dad is not he's, he's still in their lives. But you know, to have, they have, you know, two men that just think they're pretty awesome. So that's kind of cool.

Narrator: 27:13

Thank you for listening to the Last of the Col-Hi Wildcats 1982 podcast and we'll be right back after this

Scott Townsend: 27:28

if you've enjoyed this podcast in 2021, you have my patrons to thank for that. A bunch of Wildcats got together and created a GoFundMe account to help in the production of this podcast. So with that in mind, I've started a Patreon page so that listeners can help support the Last of the Col-Hi Wildcasts 1982. podcast on a month to month basis. So please check out my Patreon page patreon.com forward slash Wildcats 1982 And now back to the show. Yeah, what's the situation where you didn't think you would want to make it through but you did.

Pam Peterson Armor: 28:25

I'm probably really raising my kids. I just, you know, you know, when you have a one year old and you're by yourself, and you know, a nine year old and a five year old you just, you just don't think you can do it. And you know, my parents were amazing help. You know, my mom would come keep the kids or, you know, I went back to work at that point.

Scott Townsend: 28:53

And where were you at this time?

Pam Peterson Armor: 28:55

We were in Wichita. We were here in Wichita. We moved here when Cameron was one and shortly thereafter I got I got left for for nothing better to say. You know, it just is what it is. So yeah. You know, and I raised him by myself for about seven years. And then, you know, Clark came along, and he's been amazing. So, but we made it through. And I think that there have been people who've been put in my life that have been in the same situation and you can say, You know what, it's terrible, but you will make it and you can, you know, it just you just have to, you know, help others. So, I'm proud of that. I'm really proud that, you know, because I was bitter and angry for a long time and had to go to lots of counseling, that's not a bad thing, but ended up you know, two different counselors, because one of them was my band aid and one of them was my get to the get to the root of it, you know, to get to the root of the cause. So, yeah, and it helped and

Scott Townsend: 30:00

I think everybody needs to go through counseling.

Pam Peterson Armor: 30:02

It's not a bad thing. It's just letting someone you know, hear your feelings are here. And I learned a lot about myself,

Scott Townsend: 30:10

was it talk therapy or,

Pam Peterson Armor: 30:12

excuse me,

Scott Townsend: 30:13

was it talk therapy or was not

Pam Peterson Armor: 30:15

It was talk therapy. And one of my therapist, I would walk in and just start crying because he just got to the root of the problem. He was like, Why do you pick people like this? What do you think about yourself? You know, that and I was like, I just walk in and start crying because he just, but he was so good. So good. So.

Scott Townsend: 30:31

So I guess that is kind of a self esteem, destroyer. That whole kind of a thing. So how do you get over something like that? What do you tell people when they say that? Maybe they're in the same situation? Or they've...how do you get through that?

Pam Peterson Armor: 30:49

You know, what? I mean, I tell them, what you just can't believe at the time, it's going to get better, you're gonna you're gonna make it through this, whether you want to or not, and just surround yourself with friends or with family, or, you know, don't stay at home, get out and do stuff, you know, at my one counselor would tell me, your job for this week is to go out and have coffee with your friends, or go to the movie or something. And she would give me a note card. And the next week, she would say, What did you go out and do this? And I would, you know, try to say, Yes, I wouldn't lie to her. But sometimes you had better. You know, I had three little kids at home. So

Scott Townsend: 31:27

yeah, it's important. Yeah, I get that I have. After having after being laid off from ABB, there's been serious bouts of depression and feeling like you're not, no one wants you, you know, and blah, blah, blah, all that. All that stuff

Pam Peterson Armor: 31:47

I've been there.

Scott Townsend: 31:48

And it's really easy. I agree with you, it's really easy to just want to be by yourself and close yourself off. And, you know, like in the studio here, I could spend, you know, all week in here. But it really helps to get out. It does help to get out and have lunch with somebody or right. You know, just, it really does help. And but I don't have a I don't have a counselor, I probably think I think I probably need one. But

Pam Peterson Armor: 32:20

I think your counseling is talking to all of us, because you're...

Scott Townsend: 32:23

You're my counselor.

Pam Peterson Armor: 32:25

We're all your counselors, because you're just see, you're asking us the questions. And then you're so you're helping us all out too.

Scott Townsend: 32:32

Okay, cool. Well, that's good to know. Yeah. So I totally get where you're coming from. I think I mean, I've never been through divorce, but I have been, you know, there are the tough times, you know, and there are some days when you don't think you can get through it, you know, and you put one foot in front of the other and just run out the clock seems like.

Pam Peterson Armor: 32:56

I remember those days. Run out the clock.

Scott Townsend: 33:00

Right. Yeah. What would you tell your 18 year old self, knowing what you know, now, when you see Pam Peterson walking off this graduation stage,

Pam Peterson Armor: 33:12

I think I would tell myself to find a job you love. Because I absolutely love going to work every day with my fourth graders. They are funny. And so I would say find a job you love and be who you're supposed to be. Whether it's you know, I like I said, I've just seen all these really cool people that graduated with us, and they've just become these...they always were these great people, but they've become even better versions of themselves. So I would say just be who you want to be, you know, do what you want to do with your life. So that that's what I would tell myself and I feel like I have now at how old am I 57 have gotten there. So that's what I would say is just, you know, be who you're supposed to be.

Scott Townsend: 34:00

Right. It's yeah, it's so easy to want to be like somebody else, you know, you think Oh, I might be like that person. But right, that person is already taken. And

Pam Peterson Armor: 34:10

you're exactly right. They are taken so

Scott Townsend: 34:13

just be the best you you can be. Yeah, I agree. I totally agree. Um, any parting words to the Wildcats listening watching? This is your this is your time, Pam. It's

Pam Peterson Armor: 34:25

Wow.

Scott Townsend: 34:26

This episode is all about you

Pam Peterson Armor: 34:28

I would say I can't wait to see everybody at the reunion that's coming up. So I hope that all of these people, everybody, anybody, even if you haven't been interviewed yet, I hope everybody attends. Because I just, I just want to talk to people again. I mean, this is, you know, these, these podcasts. I love the bottom of your cup that says Hi. Did you know it says hi on the bottom. Okay.

Scott Townsend: 34:50

Yeah, no one's ever said anything about that. But you're the first one.

Pam Peterson Armor: 34:54

Well, I was like it says like, Well, I'm a teacher. And so I noticed everything you have to, especially with fourth graders. I forgot the question. You just asked me, What was I saying?

Scott Townsend: 35:05

Oh, you were just talking about how you like the pod or something about.

Pam Peterson Armor: 35:09

I love the podcast. And I really, I can't wait to see everybody at the reunion, I hope that everybody comes, even if it's just for part of it. And, you know, I can't wait to branch out and just talk to these really awesome people again. So that's an exciting thing to look forward to.

Scott Townsend: 35:28

Is there anything? I have asked some questions. Is there anything that you want to talk about that I haven't brought up as far as questions or just, this is just you and I talking now, you know, just this is your this is your show. What do you want to? I mean, what do we talk about now?

Pam Peterson Armor: 35:47

What do we talk about now? Um, good question. So are you living in Bartlesville? Still?

Scott Townsend: 35:54

Yeah. Yep.

Pam Peterson Armor: 35:55

So there's a lot of there's a

Scott Townsend: 35:56

lot here on Cherokee. Yeah. 14th St's right down there. And Frank Phillips, home just two blocks away.

Pam Peterson Armor: 36:04

Okay. Well, you're right, you're right. You're just right in the thick of it all. I'm trying to move my big cat away from me because the cat wants to be in the video. Yeah. I'm trying to think if there's anything else. So who do you hang out with from high school? Anybody?

Scott Townsend: 36:19

Yeah. So I see a lot of Keith Keith Clark. Right. I see from high school. Chris Zervis more lately. He lives right down the street here to who else? I hope I'm not forgetting somebody. But I do see a lot of people, you know, from time to time, James Jones, or I'll see Jack Trotter I'll see. As I say, Donnie Morlin, but he's an Oklahoma City. But I did have him on the show. Not not a whole lot of high school people. But I know there's there's a lot of round, it's probably more than I realized. And that's a shame that we don't probably get together as much as we should. You know, I think it's kind of a shame that we haven't you and I and everybody else... it's taken us 39 years to kind of get back together, you know, right? I guess Better late than never, huh?

Pam Peterson Armor: 37:27

I know. I need to come to Bartlesville and just find out who all's there and get together and have a lunch or something.

Scott Townsend: 37:34

What did your parents do? I can't remember. You have like two sisters did you have two sisters?

Pam Peterson Armor: 37:39

I had twin sisters who are three years older than I am. And then I had a brother. Yeah. Who died of cancer when he was 50. Oh, man, sorry to hear that. And I know it was really it was really hard. Um, my dad worked for Chevrolet. Okay. And my mom worked for Public Service Company. She retired from there when I guess when my oldest who's now 27 When he was born, she's been retired 27 years, she worked there my whole upgrade upbringing. So

Scott Townsend: 38:12

Virginia Avenue was always too narrow. I always thought that road was too narrow. You know, when we first moved to Bartlesville and Dad said, "Hey, I found this house on Ramblewood. I'll take you out to go look at it." And the road was like a frickin one car lane. You know, we're from Texas, where the roads are like massive and right. Driving up Virginia was just, it just scared me to death.

Pam Peterson Armor: 38:37

It's still pretty narrow. Yeah, I drove it Saturday and, you know, pretty narrow. So you're from Waco, were you from Waco? Yeah. That's where my kids. Both my two oldest went to Baylor so that I don't maybe you said that. Or I read that or something. And I was like, I don't remember you being from Waco. So that's fun.

Scott Townsend: 38:58

Yeah. We moved when I was in the second third grade, I guess. dad moved up or worked out a Woolaroc. So that's what brought us to Bartlesville

Pam Peterson Armor: 39:09

I do remember that. I kind of remember you guys.

Scott Townsend: 39:11

You Curtis Heinlein?

Pam Peterson Armor: 39:13

Yes, I do. In elementary school. I do.

Scott Townsend: 39:19

Oh, man.

Pam Peterson Armor: 39:20

So who do you have...who was your teacher when you moved here do you remember when you moved to Bartlesville?

Scott Townsend: 39:26

I went to Garfield for like, two three months. I think it was which was horrible. It was like a prison. I've said that before. Mrs. Campbell, I think was the teacher there and then when we got to Oak Park it was Mrs. Lovejoy.

Pam Peterson Armor: 39:46

Okay, you were in the class beside me then? Because I was with Mrs Hartpence.

Scott Townsend: 39:50

Okay. Yeah. And then after that was Fairchild?

Pam Peterson Armor: 39:57

I had Mrs. Heinz I Tricia Heinz mom in fourth grade. Okay, okay. Yeah, yeah, I think I think Fairchild would have been right. Yeah. But

Scott Townsend: 40:05

you know, the school is great. I have no problem with that. You know, I'm just sad to hear that they closed it down.

Pam Peterson Armor: 40:11

I know Me too. Me too. Did you have Mrs. Rogers?

Scott Townsend: 40:16

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think well, she's sixth grade teacher?

Pam Peterson Armor: 40:21

Well, I had her in fifth and sixth there was Mr. D, and then Mrs. Rogers.

Scott Townsend: 40:25

And then I had Elliot in sixth grade.

Pam Peterson Armor: 40:27

Oh you had Elliot? So I had Rogers fifth and sixth both so

Scott Townsend: 40:31

okay. I think I had Rogers in fifth and Ellot in sixth, but he

Pam Peterson Armor: 40:34

probably did, because that's how it moved. But she, I guess we had a smaller class because I was in class in fifth grade with like David Gruver. And maybe Brad Harris and Mary Allison and Joellen Willeford you remember the Willefords? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, my so I had a mixed class that my fifth grade year I was with sixth graders.

Scott Townsend: 41:03

Did you guys belong to the Oak Park pool?

Pam Peterson Armor: 41:06

Oh, my goodness. Yes. We spent every day there. Except for Wednesdays when they were closed. That's what we did our whole summer. So

Scott Townsend: 41:15

yeah. Yeah, it was pretty cool.

Pam Peterson Armor: 41:17

Rode our bikes.

Scott Townsend: 41:18

Mike's. Yeah. I don't know that I would want to if I were a kid . I don't know if I'd want to be playing in the park now. But back then there was all kinds of trails, bike trails, and

Pam Peterson Armor: 41:29

oh, yeah, cool. We wrote our bike up a little hill to get up to the top and yeah, get up some speed and hope the person in front he didn't stop and fall.

Scott Townsend: 41:42

oh, man.

Pam Peterson Armor: 41:44

And I liked it.

Scott Townsend: 41:44

was it was it really was no, there wasn't a lot of traffic. You could. It seems like there was like 10 of us kids that had bicycles. And we just moved around in a swarm. And you know, you could ride right down the middle of Ramblewood. And you know, there's no Yeah, traffic

Pam Peterson Armor: 41:59

Ride to the store. Did you ride to the store? Yeah. Yeah. So had everything you needed. Get your hair cut from Don Heiken's Dad if you needed to.

Scott Townsend: 42:07

Yeah, Harvey Heiken and get a little you totem store and right. Had churches out there and almost self sustaining. You know?

Pam Peterson Armor: 42:18

Yeah. Had a fire station.

Scott Townsend: 42:20

Fire Station? forgot that. Yeah. Yeah.

Pam Peterson Armor: 42:22

I don't know if it's still running out there. But ya know,

Scott Townsend: 42:25

I think they closed it too. Probably did. Well, it's 2022. Yeah, that now because Yeah, show in 2022. What are you looking forward to in 2022? What? What do you hope this year's like, as opposed to 2021.

Pam Peterson Armor: 42:45

I am looking forward to my son Cameron graduating from high school. I'm looking forward to seeing where he's gonna end up. He his top choices are Baylor and Auburn, followed by KU. Which I know you went to KU for a while. Yeah. So I'm excited about that. And it'll be the first time that Clark and I have ever been alone. So once he moves to college, we'll have we'll be alone for the first time, which we love to travel. So like he already has plans for the OU/Nebraska game. We already have reservations for that. And so it'll be the first time we've ever been able to, you know, not have to worry about do we need to be at a basketball game or football on Friday nights. And so I will miss having someone home, but I'm looking forward to that looking forward to having a little bit of time. So

Scott Townsend: 43:34

it's kind of depressing at first, I remember going through that, but then it really quickly you get used to man, this is great, you know, right. And when I was talking to Lori List, she mentioned that you guys that you met up with her not too long ago last year or two years ago or something.

Pam Peterson Armor: 43:50

on spring break, we wanted to go someplace really kind of chill. And because of COVID we couldn't go real far. So we went to Boernie Texas and I said I think ori List lives in Boernie Texas. And so got on Facebook looked it up. Sure enough, so we went to Tapatio Springs, which is I think George Strait built it or something. And we just wanted to go golf and our kids Allie had just finished taking the CPA, so she just wanted to chill and Cameron had just finished basketball so he just wanted to chill. So we went out there and called her and she came and met me and we had a six or seven hour breakfast. It was so fun to catch up with her. That's great. So that was really really cool to to end up and to see her and you know, it's quite a time to just sit still and she was my suite mate again, we laughed and talked about our kids and you know what we've been doing for all this time. It was really fun to see her.

Scott Townsend: 44:48

If anybody wants to get in touch just like with Lori List if anybody wants to get in touch with you, you know reach out and reconnect or, you know, how, what's the best way to do that?

Pam Peterson Armor: 45:00

Um, cell phone or email or Facebook Messenger or one of those but my email is just my first initial P and Armor. No U it's like knight in shining armor, not underarmour at and then WCSKS.com my school. So that's how to get ahold of me.

Scott Townsend: 45:21

I'll put it in the show notes down below. Yeah. So I'll put your email and your Facebook. Link there too. Perfect. Yeah. Any, any last words? Oh, I've already asked to that. You said you want everybody come to the reunion.

Pam Peterson Armor: 45:39

I do. I hope they come.

Scott Townsend: 45:42

So I should have asked that question first. Hang on a second. Okay.

Pam Peterson Armor: 45:51

You're good at that.

Scott Townsend: 45:55

I think I've asked all my questions. Yeah. Is there a question that you wish I would have asked?

Pam Peterson Armor: 46:02

Not really. You're so good at this.

Scott Townsend: 46:07

I'm just it's fun. I gotta admit, it's fun. What are your hobbies? What do you do when you want to have fun? Speaking of fun, what do you what's? Golf, you swim, you run, play chess, or

Pam Peterson Armor: 46:22

I took up golf last year, when before we last Christmas. I said, I think I want to take up golf. So my husband went out and got me golf clubs and shoes and outfits and hats, and, you know, tees and balls and everything I could possibly need. So I'm terrible. But it's really fun. It's something he and I can do together. And we love to travel. We love to go to national parks. So we do a lot of hiking. Butch kind of scares me now because he got he got lost, but I only hike on a trail like, for three or four hours. I don't I don't plan on spending the night or anything like that. All right. So you know, national parks, we love national parks. We've got to go to Zion the first day they opened up after COVID Which Zion is the most amazing place, but it's always so crowded. You have to take a bus in and you have to, you know, get reservations just to ride the shuttle. So we actually, my husband's the National Park geek totally. So we he's like, let's go to Zion. So I was teaching remotely. And I had like one day left to teach. So I still I can teach the last day, they don't know where I am sorry if they're seeing this. So we went out there and the first day it opened, he's like, we need to get in line at like 5am because it's gonna be crowded. Well, nobody knew it was open. So we just we just had the best time. And it's in Utah,

Scott Townsend: 47:48

Utah. Okay. So do you have a bucket list of visiting all the state parks

Pam Peterson Armor: 47:54

or I just, my husband is a geography nerd. So he knows all about that stuff. And I just go along and get the benefit of his knowledge, which is really fun. So I would like probably. We've been to a lot. And we went to Yellowstone and Grand Tetons this year. So I can't even think of which one I want to go to next maybe. I can't even think,

Scott Townsend: 48:26

yeah, my wife and I like to go. We like to go to the different state capitals. That's the bucket list. That's one of the things we have on our bucket list is just to go to visit all the 48 state capitals in the contiguous United States. So

Pam Peterson Armor: 48:43

so how many have you been to? Oh, you're counting.I don't know, 9-10. Yeah, sit's a start. We started this late. So we've been married 29 years That's OK we started this late too, so.

Scott Townsend: 49:04

Yeah, we didn't start this until just a few years ago. But anyway. Well, it's been great catching up with you. I really appreciate you taking the time to visit with us. I know everybody's going to enjoy hearing from you. And they'll probably be getting a lot of emails and Facebook comments and all that stuff, and well deserved. Thanks a lot.

Pam Peterson Armor: 49:26

Thank you. It's been really fun. It's like I said, I've just enjoyed this so much and I can't wait to hear from the the other people you're going to interview so I just when they come on, get my my air pods on and sit in bed and like don't bother me. But leave me alone. And then my husband walk in and say something like I'm listening, leave me alone.

Scott Townsend: 49:47

Well, that's cool. Thanks a lot. Once again. Thank you. So for Pam Peterson Armor this is Scott Townsend. Thanks for listening to the Last of the Col-Hi Wildcats 1982 podcast. Have a great and we'll talk to you.

Narrator: 50:29

Last of the Col-Hi Wildcasts 1982 podcast is a Deetsoman Production, visit the Last of the Col-Hi Wildcats 1982 podcast two YouTube channel. Listen on Apple podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows