Growing up in Sierra Madre, CA, Pam Valois moved north to attend UC Berkeley during the Free Speech Movement. After almost flunking out due to political rallies and other interests—birth control pills had just been offered—she returned to Los Angeles to become a dental hygienist. Then, with a solid part-time job, she could enjoy being a quasi-hippie, selling macramé and her photos at weekend craft fairs. Pam married psychologist Lloyd Linford on the lawn of Jacomena Maybeck’s Berkeley cottage and studied photography with Ruth Bernhard in San Francisco. Gifts of Age: Portraits and Essays of 32 Remarkable Women, a best-seller inspired by Jacomena, was published in 1985. After immensely enjoying mothering two sons, Pam earned a master’s degree and started a new career in health care. 

Now at age seventy-five, she’s been retired for ten years. She enjoys walking in the woods, reading, and hanging out with friends and family. Pam’s grandchildren, Abby and Joe, are a great joy and require exploring things not done in years. Her daily pleasure is now living in Jacomena’s “High House” with Lloyd––it’s like a tree house, with redwoods, deer, and skunks as neighbors. Lloyd and Pam meet after breakfast to compare plans for the day, then retreat to their rooms to write until lunch. It’s a life she savors.