Pamela Carter Fitz, 81, of Columbia, SC, passed away peacefully at home with her loving family by her side on Tuesday, May 6.

She had been courageously battling a shorter-term illness over the past several years.

Mrs. Fitz was born in Columbia, SC on November 17, 1943. She was the daughter of Colonel Thomas Beeman Carter, Sr., and Francis Long Carter. Pamela enjoyed traveling with her parents when her father was active in his military career, and would reminisce fondly of attending Winthrop College and Plymouth University, where she met her husband. Pamela would ultimately graduate from Bridgewater University with her Bachelors of Education and Masters of Library Science. 

During her 81 years on earth, Pamela was a devoted wife, mother, and grandmother. Additionally, Pamela was a passionate educator assisting with the opening of Murdock High School where she also ended her career upon retiring as a Library Media Specialist. 

As Pamela raised her family and completed her education degrees, she ran the children’s program at Lancaster Public Library prior to embarking on entering the public school system while completing her master’s degree. Pamela was an elementary teacher for the first couple of years of her marriage. For her entire career and time as a parent, Pamela instilled an importance of education and a fondness of learning that is a legacy left to her children and grandchildren. She was a dedicated champion in education to serving in her teachers’ association as an active planner, advocator, and secretary. 

Pamela loved to travel vicariously back in time with study on Native American and Viking cultures. She shared a fondness with her cherished husband for antique hunting, long, Sunday drives, and the best fish dinners in New England. Her love for photography, avid reading, and Winthrop live on with her granddaughter. Her calm, balanced, and methodical logic live on with her grandson. 

She is predeceased by her beloved husband of 39 years, Charles Wesley Fitz. They married in 1967 in Puerto Rico and were together in New England until 2007 when Charles passed. Pamela remained in Westminster, Massachusetts three more years prior to relocating to Columbia in 2011, where many of her relatives reside. Prior to her 14 years in Columbia, Pamela also lived in New Hampshire and Puerto Rico. Through the years, she was always deeply fond of trip to visit family and extended family in the South for family reunions and get-togethers. While the later part of her illness made engaging with family more challenging with the stamina, they were never separate from her heart and she ensured her children know their legacy and contributions of previous loved ones.

Pamela will be remembered by family and friends as a dedicated educator, cherished and deeply beloved mother, sister, and grandmother. She was always there for her children and grandchildren with all the support a mother can give, and more! She loved decorating her original antique cabin in Saddleback in Rangeley prior to selling it upon her husband’s passing; with fond memories of kayaking the Saddleback lake at Rangeley, footsteps away from the log cabin, even through the playful lamenting of the heavy kayak throwing out her hip after an afternoon of picking wild raspberries. 

This simple beauty and short walk from the serenity of life as well as nature is likely enduring with the reunification in another realm with her husband, sketching decoys for Charles to carve, binge watching Highlander, resuming gardening, and looking down upon her beloved family that miss and love her more than she ever knew.

Pamela leaves behind her beloved son and primary caregiver, Charles Wesley Fitz Jr; her daughter, Anne Pamela (Fitz) Ediger, precious grandchildren, Noelle Charlize Ediger and Tristan Alaric Ediger; sister Catherine Buff (Robert) of Columbia, SC, as well as her brother, Thomas Carter (Val) of Springfield, VA; as well as a number of cousins, nieces, nephews, great nieces, and nephews. 

The family and Pamela request a remembrance to be made in the spirit to those fighting Parkinson’s and related conditions.