Remembering Pamela Kruse

Pam Kruse

For many years, Pam Kruse has been actively involved in our association of Action Learning, Action Research and Process Management (ALARPM), called ALARA since 2008, at all levels: internationally as a member of the Management Committee and in organising and attending world congresses – e.g. she joined us to South Africa in 2003, followed by a private safari; nationally in organising and facilitating our annual Australasian conferences; and locally as the heart of the ‘Brisbane Conversation Group’, planning, organising and catering – the latter mainly with Joan and Wilma.

As an elder and co-founder of this association since 1990, I have admired her relational skills, drive, commitment, hard work and intelligent humour, all leading to close friendships among our community.

In brief, Pam was a great supporter of ALARPM and ALARA. She lived and breathed our values and worldviews because she was participatory, collaborative, communicative, inclusive, honest and trustworthy, open to new ideas, creative and innovative, diplomatic in negotiations and dialogical conversations, helping to and coaching others, compromising, critical, reflective, and therefore, ‘emancipatory’ in the philosophical sense of critical theory.

On a personal note, I enjoyed her company as a friend, e.g. when she visited me in my home in Bingen on the Rhine in Germany a couple of years ago, going on a Rhine cruise, outings, German food and wines with my relatives and friends. She and Wilma also visited me at least once a year in my home on Bribie Island, going for beach walks, swimming, surfing on boogie boards, and of course wining and dining. We always had fun, laughed and talked about work to be done. Sadly, earlier this year, Wilma rang me and cancelled their visit because Pam was suddenly hospitalised with a heart problem. When I talked to her the next day or two, she said it was nothing and I forgot about it until her sudden death. We are all shocked, sad, missing her forever, and expressing our sympathy to her family.

Ortrun Zuber-Skerritt
17/12/16