In loving memory of Professor Pam Gilbert (nee Phillips) 12/5/1946--13/11/2002.

Patterson, Annette ; Alloway, Nola

Staff in the School of Education at James Cook University were deeply saddened by Pare Gilbert's death on 13 November 2002 at her home in Townsville. I still find it difficult to believe that she is not with us. Pam worked until the end, writing, supervising research students, teaching and talking with colleagues, running research projects. There are still so many reminders in our daily working lives of her vitality and wit, of her intellect and humour, of her thoughtfulness and good sense.

I first met Pam at a conference in Perth in 1990. Pam was a keynote speaker and the star of the show. I was a novice academic, newly appointed to a university position following several years teaching in high schools. Pare had sought me out by asking a conference organiser to introduce us. I was stunned. Pam was a giant in the academic world I was only just entering. Internationally recognised, lauded in the UK, Canada, New Zealand the USA, Pam's work was cited in the leading journals in her field, she had published several scholarly books, every serious scholar in English and literacy education had read her work, and she was the only reason I knew about James Cook University. I was so nervous that I barely remember anything about our conversation, but I was reminded of it recently while listening to Pam's husband, Rob Gilbert, speak at her funeral. Rob commented then that he believed Pam

 had no interest at all in promoting herself. Despite all the honours
 and plaudits and invitations to speak at so many notable
 occasions ... she really had no interest in being the centre of
 attention. Rather, she was always more interested in what others
 were doing, and if she could help them.

That certainly was my experience on that memorable day when I had coffee with the famous researcher from a place called Townsville, whose work I had had to get my head around in order to write my own thesis. Pam's collegiality and generosity in sharing ideas and exploring the boundaries of her field had no limits and her humble approach to her own achievements set a rare benchmark in university circles.

A significant feature of Pam's career is that her work is widely acknowledged as innovative and relevant by professional educators, academics and students alike. Her extraordinary career spanned twenty years teaching at high schools and another twenty years as an academic at JCU. During her school teaching career Pare held teaching positions at Ayr, Townsville, Brisbane, Ipswich, and Nambour. She was Head of English at the then Heatley High School, and taught in London during the late 1970s while also studying at the London Institute of Education. Teaching remained one of Pam's passions during both the school and university segments of her career.

In 1982 Pam joined the staff at James Cook University following a prize-winning thesis in Literature (M.Lit), which was soon to be followed by ground-breaking doctoral research on secondary students' writing, published as Writing, Schooling and Deconstruction: From Voice to Text in the Classroom (1989). During the early 1990s Pam pioneered the still ongoing research on gender and literacy. Her wide-ranging, scholarly work was nationally and internationally recognised through invitations to present keynote addresses and to submit articles to refereed journals and write chapters for edited book collections, all in addition to authoring and co-authoring several books, including Gender, Literacy and the Classroom with Kate Rowe (1989), Fashioning the Feminine with Sandra Taylor (1991) and Masculinity Goes to School with Rob Gilbert (1998). Pain's publication rate was stunning, and she maintained that formidable pace right to the end. Even after the diagnosis of multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow in 1995, Pam worked closely with her friend and colleague Nola Alloway, and with her husband and research partner Rob Gilbert, to co-author books, chapters, journal articles and grant applications that reshaped the terrain of literacy, English, gender and education. Pare received funding for her research from Commonwealth and State departments and the Australian Research Council. Her wide-ranging and highly significant studies have informed policy development in Australia and overseas for many years.

James Cook University awarded Pam many accolades, including the highest honour a university can bestow, a personal chair. She was honoured no less, however, by the acknowledgement of her outstanding contribution to the English teaching profession when she was winner of the 2001 Peter Botsman award. Rarely does an academic combine outstanding research with outstanding work in her professional field but Pam's commitment, talent and formidable intellect ensured her a rare place in both the academy and the profession. The field of literacy is the richer for having counted her as one of its own and her work will continue to inspire generations of teachers and researchers to come.

Farewell Professor Pam Gilbert, we salute you.

Annette Patterson and Nola Alloway

James Cook University, Townsville and Cairns