Pamela Champagne

Pam Champagne, who traveled the world and spent years living and working abroad in Uganda and other African countries, passed away on May 18 after a long battle with cancer. She was 76 years old.

The eldest of five children, Pam was raised in Lincoln, Massachusetts. Her father, John Burton Warner, was a commercial pilot for Eastern Air Lines and her mother, Barbara Louise Kaighn, was a stay-at-home mom who also volunteered at the Boston Museum of Science and loved to travel, too.

Pam graduated from Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, where she played varsity basketball, in 1966. She later matriculated at Colby College in Waterville, Maine, where she majored in French and graduated in 1970; she kept up her language skills throughout life, even taking part in a French-language discussion group in Bangor throughout her final years. She gained her bubbly last name after marrying Lucien Champagne in 1970; the two divorced in 1977.

She began her career as a banker in the 1970s, and worked her way up to a role as a vice president at a bank in Bangor. But she'd eventually set off in an entirely new direction thanks to two initial trips she took overseas. The first was in 1985, when she joined her mother and others on a safari to Kenya, where she also met her lifelong friend Mary Lee Mantz. Later, in 1990, she had the chance to return to Africa, going gorilla tracking with Mary Lee in the Virunga Mountains in Uganda and in Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In 1991, she moved to Uganda at the invitation of Mary Lee, who was there working on projects related to maternal and child health. Although Pam was gainfully employed as a banker in Bangor, she wasn't happy at the job. "I was at the point I hated Sundays, because Monday always came after Sunday," she recalled in November last year. "I thought that's no way to live out my life." A leave of absence from the bank, which was intended to be just for a matter of months, turned into 11 years of life overseas. Her first role in Uganda was as a volunteer, on work relating to income-generating projects for women's groups, and she also became a United Nations volunteer.

From there, she put her banking skills to good use, working as a consultant with local banks in areas such as internal audits and risk management. She lived in Kampala, Uganda, but through her assignments also traveled to Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Eritrea, South Africa, Nigeria, and The Gambia; she also spent years based in Harare, Zimbabwe. And together with Mary Lee, the two explored many other countries including Mozambique, Swaziland, Namibia, Botswana, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Egypt, and Zambia. An avid photographer, Pam loved capturing the unforgettable scenes she saw as she traveled.

Of all the places she visited, "I think I felt most at home in Uganda," she recalled. "I knew a lot of people. I knew a lot more about the culture, because I'd worked with many of the women's groups, and I had been from one end of the country to the other." She loved the people she encountered and the culture, crafts, and beauty of the continent's nature. In order to share her experiences, Pam frequently wrote group letters that family and friends back home always looked forward to receiving. And when in the U.S. for visits, she would frequently tell interesting and humorous stories about her adventures.

It was in Uganda, at the invitation of the Swiss ambassador to the country, that Pam and Mary-Lee even got to spend an evening with Jane Goodall at the ambassador's residence.

Even more important than that encounter, it was in Uganda that she met Warren Niles, who was working at a bank; Warren and Pam became partners later in life, and while in Africa, Warren, a pilot, and Pam would fly around together in small aircraft to locations like Queen Elizabeth National Park in western Uganda, which is famous for its hippos.

She moved back to the U.S. in 2002, but continued traveling and working in countries like Cambodia, India, and Bangladesh. Warren and Pam lived together in Bangor, and she cared for him after he suffered a serious stroke in 2010; he passed away in 2019.

Pam's family and friends wish to extend their great appreciation to Dr. Sheila Pasqual and her team at the cancer center for the wonderful care they provided to Pam, and also to St. Joseph Hospice for their compassionate care.

Pam's friends and family will remember her for her adventurous spirit and love of traveling; her intellect, wit, and humor; her generosity and kindness; and her devotion and love to Warren, her siblings, and her nieces and nephew. She is survived by her sister, Sandy Verger, and her two brothers, Chris and Mark Warner. A celebration of Pam's life will be held on June 21 from 2:00-4:00 pm at the Family Reception Center of Brookings-Smith 163 Center Street, in Bangor. In lieu of flowers, Pam encouraged anyone who wanted to make a charitable donation to consider doing so to the American Stroke Association or the American Cancer Society.