Obituary: Pamela Turnure Timmins

November 20, 1937 – April 25, 2023

Pamela Turnure Timmins passed away April 25th, 2023 at her home in Edwards Colorado. She was 85, the cause of death was lung cancer.
Pam was born in Manhattan, New York November 20th, 1937. She was the daughter of Lawrence Turnure, a banker and Louise Gwynn. Her parents divorced when she was a few years old and she and her older brother, Larry Turnure, were raised by her mother and stepfather, Frederic Drake, the publisher of Harper’s Bazaar Magazine.
She was married for 24 years to Canadian born investment banker Robert N. Timmins. Bobby died in 1990. She was predeceased by her brother Larry Turnure, and half brother Fred Drake and survived by her half siblings, O. Burtch Winters Drake, Deedee Drake Howard, and Willie Drake and 11 nieces and nephews : Burtch “Obie” Drake, Fred Drake, Kelley Drake, Colin Drake, Michele Turnure Salleo, Jackie Turnure , George Turnure, Tamar Howard, Ted Drake, Carman Drake, Jay Drake.
Raised in Fairfield, Ct. with her five siblings, Pam graduated from the Bolton School in Westport, Ct. and studied at Colby Junior College in New Hampshire and Mount Vernon Jr. College in Washington ,DC . In 1957 she met then Senator John F. Kennedy, and was later hired as an assistant in the Senator’s Washington office. Shortly thereafter she went to work on his presidential campaign.
In 1961, at age 23, Jackie Kennedy asked Pam to become her press secretary, the first person to hold that position. She travelled extensively with Mrs. Kennedy and was in Dallas, Texas in 1963 when President Kennedy was assassinated. She was aboard Air Force 1 when Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as president. She continued to work for Mrs. Kennedy in NYC until 1966 when she started a successful interior decorating business, Timmins- Munn.
Pam moved to Edwards, Colo. following her husbands death. She loved the Vail/Edwards community and was active in numerous organizations including the Science Center, the Betty Ford Gardens and the Food Bank. She skied 100 days a year and served for many years as a Vail Mountain Hostess. When she wasn’t skiing, she was hiking and fishing with her partner Steve Boyd, who passed away in 2018.
Pam and her dry sense of humor was adored and loved by her siblings and their eleven children.
Memorial service in Vail TBD
Donations in Pam’s memory to Walking mountains science center, P.O.Box 9469, Avon, Colo. 81620. walkingmountains.org.
For more background on her experience during the Kennedy administration see the Washington Post Obituary April 29th 2023.