Pamela Allen Kaperak

Pam Allen Kaperak, of Tallahassee, FL passed away, with her husband by her side on September 3, 2017. Pam was 49 years old. Pam is survived by her Husband, Jeffrey Kaperak and their two dogs Ellie and Lola; her parents Francis and Irene (Gadomski) Allen of St. Petersburg, FL; her siblings and their spouses Francis and Sara Allen of St. Petersburg, FL; Matthew and Alicia Allen of St. Petersburg; and Beth and Michael Pyell of Tulsa, OK; and her nieces and nephews Sy Allen, Sophia Allen, Abigail Pyell, Liam Allen, and Michael Pyell. Pam was born on December 13, 1967 in Windsor, CT, and was adopted by loving parents Frank and Irene. They lived in Connecticut through most of 70s, where Pam was proud to claim that they lived in part of the old Gillette estate. She would always talk about the house and the property with fond memories. She loved the hearth fireplace with the iron swing arm for holding a large pot. Growing up in Connecticut, Pam showed her strong will, early and often, like when she was ready to carry her newly adopted baby brother home for the first time, or when she threatened other kids that were messing around with her brothers. After the blizzard of 1978 and having to ladle ice out of toilets, the Allen family moved to Florida, where they eventually made St. Petersburg their home. Pam loved to tell stories of her parent’s laundry mat, where she helped with the family business. She told stories of how she was regularly fired by her father for one reason or another. She also loved to tell stories of their parent’s trailer park. One of her favorite stories was how they had a trailer park Christmas, while their new home was being built. Growing up in St. Petersburg, Pam attended Northeast High School (NEHI). While at NEHI, she was a member of the Swim Team. She used to tell stories about her adventures with her friends Julie, Mary, Charlie, and Natalie to name a few. She was fond of the time she spent with each of her high school friends. Stories ranged from riding in a friend’s aged Mustang where you could see the road through rusted out floors, getting busted for having a party at an unused family house, getting busted in Spanish class for talking too much, putting regular gas in a diesel, the stolen RX7 that ended up in the Everglades, going out to island parties, or any one of other stories that are too numerous to tell. She was very fond of her time in high school and hanging out with friends. After a short time of finding her way to being a better student, she graduated from St. Petersburg Junior College and then went on to Florida State University. Her friend Julie talked her into going to Sorority Rush, where Pam joined the Sigma Kappa Sorority. She was proud that she was part of the first class of Sigma Kappa. She made a number of lasting friendships with her sisters Claudia, Kim, and Esther, to name a few. Also, while at FSU she competed as a Tarpon in Synchronized Swimming, and she and her friend Julie competed on the Sailing Team. She was proud to have lettered in a sport at FSU, and enjoyed going into the Letterman’s Club during football games letting people think that her husband was the athlete. Upon graduating from FSU, with degrees in communications and elementary education, she moved to Orlando, where she taught in the Head Start program. While at Head Start, one of her favorite stories was about how a mother threatened to revoke her son’s privilege to go to the School Bus Derby, in order to get him to behave. Also, while in Orlando, she attended the University of Central Florida with her friends Kim, Mary Beth, and Ray. At UCF, Pam received a Master’s degree in Public Administration. Pam moved back to Tallahassee after obtaining her Master’s at UCF. While there, she worked as the House Mom for the Sigma Kappa Sorority and started work on a Doctorate Degree. It was working as the house mom that she made long lasting friendships with some of the younger sisters, like Leslie. It was after an unexpected firing from the sorority that Pam then entered into the world of politics. She started as a Legislative Analyst working in education policy. One of her proudest achievements was getting to work on the school voucher bill with some of the State’s top education policy wonks. She was riveted by the court hearings that ultimately ruled that the bill was unconstitutional. It was while she was working at the Legislature that she met her future husband Jeff. She was intrigued by anyone who knew how to spell Muahahaha and it appeared to be a pretty good match. The true test was seeing if Jeff would flinch at being introduced to the ENTIRE family at once at her mother’s 60th birthday party. He passed the test, and they were married a couple of years later, on 02/02/02. To her husband’s relief, it was a date that was easy to remember. A couple noteworthy comments about the wedding. Pam bought her wedding dress a couple of days before Jeff proposed. Pam’s engagement ring fluoresces bright purple, on purpose, when exposed to a black light. Pam’s mom made couture bridesmaid dresses that were exactly what Pam wanted. The wedding was on Groundhog’s Day and the wedding party wore a groundhog pin or pendant. To date, it’s the only wedding that she knew of that had a caricature artist at the reception. The DJ didn’t have a clue about the type of music to play at the reception and Pam had to provide him with all CDs. We received a congratulatory telegram at the reception from former Florida governor Claude Kirk. At the end of the night the couple realized they didn’t have a car to ride to the hotel and had to ride in the back of a friend’s car. They checked into the Renaissance Vinoy with clothes in a Laundry Basket. To help the couple with embarrassment, Troy said within earshot of the front desk, that having a laundry basket was a new trend and that J-Lo was seen last week just doing the same thing. Pam left the Legislature and joined OPPAGA. One of her favorite studies she did while there was the K-12 justification review, which required visiting schools throughout the state. It was during a visit to Pinellas county that the terrorists hit the Twin Towers in New York. Her coworker, Tim, was so freaked out about being so close MacDill Air Force Base that the two of them immediately headed home. She had many fond memories of various co-workers and their idiosyncrasies. After OPPAGA, she rejoined a number of fellow policy wonks working for governor JEB Bush. She always exclaimed how crazy smart that JEB was, and how he would read and be proficient in reports and studies before his staff had a chance to do a proper analysis. She also said that he had a great sense of humor, which never translated into the public domain. She loved to reminisce about how he would sign bills in private with a certain flair and saying “Law of the Land” as he laid down his signature. Or, how she once explained to him what a Metrosexual was. Of all her political jobs, she enjoyed the governor’s office the most. Her last job was with Florida Department of Education, where she worked in the data unit then as the director of No Child Left Behind. It was at this point that Pam’s fight with migraines, chronic pain and depression took its toll. Her job at the department was the last professional job that she held. In the ensuing years, Pam took up crafting. She joined an online community called Craftster, where she became a moderator of a couple of forums. Among the crafts that she contributed were glass, mosaics, plastics, embroidery, sewing, and so much more. She looked forward to the craft challenges and swaps. Her absolutely all-time favorite challenge was the kitschy craft challenge where she made a Chanel inspired skirt out of pot holder loops. Her and her husband labored say and night making squares so that she would be able to complete her skirt. The skirt is still hanging in the closet. She also loved the fact that her husband bought her a glass fusing kiln, which allowed her to make pendants and soy sauce dishes for people and events. At some point, Pam tried to launch a crafty empire in the company Allen Kaperak Designs. It was in the running of this small company that she hired her first Bubble. For those of you that don’t understand Bubble, refer to the television series Absolutely Fabulous. Together, Bubble and Pam made purses, fused glass, tried to perfect silver leaf technique, ran an Etsy store, went to markets, participated in shows, and so much more. It was a sad day when Bubble decided to head overseas to seize the day. But this made way for others, who Pam developed a fondness of, to come and assist. After about three years of being in business, the doors were closed. Pam and Jeff continued crafting, whether it was jewelry with custom cabochons, Christmas ornaments, holiday decorations, etc. It was something that the two of them enjoyed collaborating and executing together. At one point, there was discussion about making an annual collection of Christmas Ornaments for friends and families. For those that were local to Tallahassee, you may have seen the Halloween decorations which ranged from hand crafted 7ft tall mummies, monster wreaths, and giant paper mache spiders. Pam, above all else, loved creating costumes for Halloween, whether it was Karl Lagerfeld, Robert Smith, Prince, or anyone of a number of others. She even created a nanny costume for Dragoncon, when she was asked to watch a friend’s child, while the friend’s band played. With Pam, it was always all in. One of the other holidays that Pam loved was Christmas. Her family had a tradition of having an open house on Christmas Eve. Because holidays were split one year on and one year off with the families, she and Jeff would host an open house in Tallahassee every other year. It was one of the few parties that she didn’t feel like the television character Rhoda when it wasn’t a packed house. She was very particular about how the pierogis were made, they had to be made using her grandmother’s recipe. They always had to have kielbasa and sauerkraut. And often time there was way too much food. On the years of the open houses, it was fun and comforting to be around friends and family. Pam loved to travel. She took advantage of her husband’s job to visit cities in which he was working. She loved the fact her husband spent almost 3 years working in New York City. She loved wandering around in Manhattan, especially in the fashion district. She would spend hours in Mood Fabrics just wandering around looking at the various fabrics. She also loved being able to fly her niece up to hang out and explore with her. One of her favorite moments was being able to see The Cure play their first three albums in their entirety at the Beacon Theater. She exclaimed that that was the best concert that she had gone to ever. Of all the places she traveled, she always talked about New York the most. She always said that if she won a lottery, she would want to get a place there. Pam and Jeff took advantage of hotel and airline points that Jeff earned while traveling for work. They toured some of the cities of the West Coast, where Pam was able to see the Seattle Glass Museum where they had an amazing Chihuly collection. She also was able to experience blowing glass first hand. She was able to see one of her favorite displays, the seals of San Francisco at Pier 39. Recently, she was able to travel to Denver to visit some friends and see some concerts. She and her friend Leslie had backstage passes to see the Smashing Pumpkins and Marilyn Manson at Red Rocks. After that concert, they hung out with Billy Corgan backstage after the concert. Later that same week, she was able to see another one of her favorite singers, Morrissey. Some of her favorite songs of all time were either Morrissey or the Smiths. In her spare time, she joined a Fibro Myalgia support group, where she tried to help people come to terms with dealing with Chronic Pain and Depression. She tried to spread the word about what people in this condition dealt with on a day to day basis. She often talked about only having a limited reserve of energy that she could spend daily, and how she had to pick and choose carefully what she did. She was often frustrated by not being able to do all of the things that she wanted to do, but relished in the things that she was able to do. For someone who loved life and the human experience, it was difficult to watch her having to settle. In recent years, Pam doted over her nieces and nephews. She loved every moment with them. She loved hanging out with the girls and doing girly things like clothes, fashion accessories, hair, and nails. She enjoyed hanging around the nephews watching them grow up and become their own person. She was always looking for the right presents for Christmas and Birthdays, always working hard to try to stay relevant in their lives. Hopefully, her nieces and nephews will have fond memories of her and won’t forget their Auntie Glam Pam. Jeff and Pam were planning to try to travel more. They were planning to do their first Transatlantic trip to visit Jeff’s brother in Germany and from Germany the rest of Europe. There was talk about trying to take another cruise. They were also talking about trying to visit friends more frequently. Above all else, she wanted to spend more time with her family in St. Petersburg. Despite how her health limited her, she tried to make the best of life. One of her favorite quotes was from the movie Auntie Mame, “Life’s a buffet and most poor suckers are starving to death.” She tried to live by that motto, and tried to influence people to take life by the horns and seize the day. Friends and family exclaim how much richer their lives were because of her influence. She had a positive effect on most people that she interacted with. Her time was too short, and she will be missed.

Tributes

Pamela Allen Kaperak

December 13, 1967 - September 3, 2017