PAMELA BOYD SHIELDS
passed away to be with God on February 23,
2024. She was a beloved wife, mother, grandmother, sister, and friend.
Pamela was born in Wiesbaden, Germany, February 27,
1952, to Capt.
Robert Boyd and Lieutenant Retha Boyd, who are both deceased.
She leaves behind her beautiful and loving family, husband Timothy Shields; son, Scott Crosthwait and his wife Candice of Cabot; grandchildren, Lauren, Cady, Tyler, and Bradley; great-grandchildren, Makenzie, Peyton, RJ, Rayley, Milly, Carson, and Mia; sisters, Roberta Billingsley (Robert) and Mary Trulock (Steven); nephews, Evan, Ryan, and Andrews.
Pamela lived as a child in London, Goose Bay, Labrador, St. Charles, and Little Rock, and then was brought up in Jacksonville, Ark. She was always a force of nature wherever she went fighting for causes close to her heart. After obtaining a bachelor’s degree and Masters in Education, she taught at Mabelvale Junior High and Hall High School. She taught American History and was one of the first gifted education teachers in Little Rock. She joined the Navy Reserves at age 35 as an officer. Pamela was asked to go on active duty a short time later. She was inspired to enter the Armed Forces by her father, who was an Air Force pilot and navigator, and her mother, who was a secretary to the War Crime Trials after WWII.
Her first station was at the Spokane Navy and Marine Corps Reserve Readiness Center, where she served as Executive Officer. It was at this time she met her beloved husband, Tim. Pamela and Tim soon moved to Honolulu as Pamela served as Executive Officer of the Marine Corps Reserve Center. Soon thereafter she went to the U.S. Commander in Chief Pacific Command, where she served as the Assistant War Game Director and was awarded the Defense Meritorious Service Medal for a war game she directed.
Pamela’s next duty was Naval Air Facility Washington D.C., where she served as an Assistant Training Officer and Instructor in their Terrorism Task Force. When she left active duty she was picked up by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Operating Base National Capitol Region and the Directorate of Measurement and Signature Intelligence. She spent six months in Qatar as a Senior Watch Officer of the Combined Media Processing Center (CMPC-Q), a 24/7 operation that dealt with translation and exploitation of captured electronic media and documentation from Iraq.
Before she retired, Pamela reached the rank of Commander in the U.S. Navy and was an original member of the Defense Intelligence Agency’s J2 Task Force created after 9/11.
After she retired, the couple moved to Little Rock and Pamela became active with the Pulaski County Republican Women. She remained active in the community, serving as commissioner for the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs in addition to her role with Pulaski County Republican Women. She was also elected the second chair of the 2nd Congressional District of the Arkansas Republican Party.
Pamela’s family has fought in service to our country since the American Revolution. Pamela was a proud and active member of Daughters of the American Revolution.
So, you see, she was a force of nature. She faced the obstacles of being a woman and a single parent, along with life’s twists and turns she still became one of the most influential woman most of us will ever meet. If you knew Pamela, you would understand.
Her proudest achievement was her son, Scott Crosthwait, and her husband, Timothy Shields. She loved them fiercely. She also loved and was best friends with her granddaughter Lauren, a local artist.
To all her friends and family, she wants you to know that she cared. Pamela cared for so many other countless people, veterans, friends, and some she never knew. She also leaves behind many close friends from Jacksonville and those she and Tim met in Little Rock and in her Community Bible Study group. Pamela will be missed by so many of us but as she has mentioned before, “God has this.”
As a farewell to this amazing woman go out and listen to her favorite band, the Rolling Stones.
In lieu of flowers please make a donation to the Arkansas Freedom Fund, a cause dear to her heart.
The Celebration of Life for Pamela will be 9 a.m. at the First United Methodist Church in Jacksonville, Monday March 4, 2024.
Sign online guestbook www. rollerfuneralhomes.com/chenal