Obituary for Pam Bendio
Pamela Susan Bendio was born 8 September 1950 at the McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden, UT. Her parents were Laurie Ernest Bendio and Lillian Mae Mortensen Bendio.
She joined two older brothers, Laurie Brian Bendio and Michael Thomas Bendio. Later, her younger brother, Logan Bendio joined the family by adoption.
She died in Orem, Utah on 17 January 2023.
Pam grew up and attended schools in Illinois; in Ontario, Canada; in Missouri; and in Alaska. She graduated from high school in Fairbanks, Alaska.
She has lived in the Logan, Utah area for at least 18 years, first in Hyde Park and then Logan itself. She graduated from Utah State University with a degree in art and psychology in 2005.
Earlier she had studied at BYU, but left to earn money for a mission. She served in the England London East Mission from 1974-76. This included some time serving in the British area of Gibraltar.
When she returned, she moved to Salt Lake City where she soon began working at the Hansen Planetarium, from approximately 1977-1987. While there she earned a degree from the University of Utah Clown School, and she used these skills, along with her ability to ride a unicycle, to delight her young nieces and others. She also used her creative talents to present special programs at the Planetarium.
She moved to the Salt Palace as Event Coordinator from 1988-1999, where she received an award in 1996 for “Distinguished Service” by a national organization for convention operations management.
She remembers traveling to Istanbul, Turkey; Washington, DC; and San Francisco, among other places.
She moved to Providence, Utah to take a job with USU from 2000-2003, then moved to Saratoga Springs to be closer to family. Her job in Utah County didn’t turn out to be what she expected, and she returned to Cache Valley in 2004, soon enrolling at the university.
After graduating, she spent a Summer Abroad in Korea and China, staying after to visit with the family of a Korean professor, Hyoung Sook Kim. She had gotten to know him at USU, where he helped her with her metal sculpture that was the final project for her degree. She in turn helped him and his wife with conversational English.
While working at the Salt Palace, she had bought a home in Sandy with her friend Billie Derbin, who died in 2010, after being moved to Assisted Living in the Logan area, where Pam was basically serving as her only “family”.
The following year, in December of 2011, she got a diagnosis of breast cancer the same time as she learned that her mother had died in Orem. What a trial all that was!
She went through two surgeries, chemo and radiation in 2012 and 2013, and her cancer was gone, but her health was never the same after because of all the side effects and damage from the treatments she underwent.
She loved to organize things, and left many binders with financial, medical, governmental, genealogical, and other types of information, along with personal stories and memories. She had a phenomenal memory, and remembered and loved many dear friends, and was loved by them.
She was very creative all her life and was never afraid to take up a newtype of creative work, whether it was poetry, weaving, or fixing imaginative gadgets to make life easier as her health declined.
She served faithfully in church callings even while her health was declining, and especially appreciated receiving Priesthood blessings when discouraged. She loved learning more about the gospel of Jesus
Christ, especially the plan of salvation, and illustrated it artistically in several ways.
Pam is survived by her brothers Laurie Brian of Ohio and Michael (Detta) of Orem, Utah; and her sister-in-law Wendy Benson Bendio, also of Orem, plus 10 nieces and their families. She was predeceased by her parents, her brother Logan Bendio, a sister-in-law, Joan Linda Roveto Bendio, and a niece, Rainey Bendio.