The Legacy of Pamela Smoak, Founder of the Gulf Coast Children’s Advocacy Center
BY RENEE WARREN LYNAH PHOTOS BY ERIC MARCUS
Providing help to abused children was a mission that Pamela Smoak followed with fierce determination until the end of her life. Her name and picture adorn the Gulf Coast Children’s Advocacy Center and, as her likeness smiles over the entrance of the building, dozens of volunteers and relentless staff members are carrying on her work.
“The GCCAC aims to protect children in our community by improving early detection, intervention, joint investigation, and successful prosecution of child abuse cases. It facilitates treatment for child victims and their families and conducts community education regarding the prevention of child abuse.” The multifaceted tasks and challenging goals are described in a few sentences but it takes a village to achieve all of it. What is now a beautiful and inviting stand-alone facility is the work of one woman who would not take “no” for an answer. Pamela Smoak started the Children’s Advocacy Center in a spare room at the State Attorney’s Office more than 15 years ago and, in 2009, the current location opened. Future plans for the CAC include a rape crisis center, expansion into Marianna and, eventually, Chipley. Pamela’s husband Richard, a U.S. District Judge, was appointed by George W. Bush in 2005. Her daughter, Elizabeth, lives in Vermont with her husband and four children. Her daughter, Kathleen, recently relocated back to Panama City from Washington, D.C., and is preparing to take a seat on the Advocacy Center’s board of directors.
Sitting at an exquisite antique table in the formal dining room of the family home, Richard Smoak and daughter Kathleen remember with nostalgia, pride, and laughter a woman who made an indelible mark on Bay County. Her work continues to touch children’s lives. They recall how it all began with her passion, grit, and determination. It is easy to picture the hustle and bustle of Thanksgivings and Christmases gone by. Imagine china, crystal and fine linens at individual place settings, imagine a menu planned for weeks if not months in advance, and laminating this menu, as Pamela Smoak was famous for. She orchestrated holidays, birthdays, and dinner parties with the same imagination and eye for detail with which she crafted the Gulf Coast Children’s Advocacy Center.
Pamela grew up in Iowa, graduated as president of her class with a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Colorado Women’s College, and became Special Assistant at the Department of the Treasury on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Richard, or “Dick” as his friends call him, is a West Point graduate who served in Vietnam twice – once as a first lieutenant in the Special Forces, and then again as a commander in the 101st Airborne. Dick worked for a small firm in Panama City as a defense attorney. The two met on Capitol Hill while Dick was in D. C. temporarily. They married in 1976, moved to Panama City and started a family. When the couple’s daughters, Kathleen and Elizabeth, were in kindergarten and first grade, Pamela announced that she would go to law school. She was 38 years old at the time and, Dick says, honestly, he thought she was having a midlife crisis. But Pamela was fiercely determined and worked around the clock to orchestrate motherhood, trips to FSU in Tallahassee, and the grueling hours of study that a law degree requires. “She was the person who was up at 4 a.m., baking eight different kinds of cookies, and working on cases, building the CAC—she made it look effortless. I always felt like the luckiest kid in the world,” says Kathleen.
Pamela became a prosecutor at the State Attorney’s Office and then Chief Assistant to the State Attorney. Pamela’s specialty was prosecuting child abuse and child sexual abuse cases. It was during her work at the State Attorney’s Office that Pamela observed child victims being humiliated and frightened by the court process. She began to envision a different way.
Kathleen Smoak remembers, “Some of my earliest memories are of my mother having my sister and me ride our bikes to the courthouse to play with the child victims.” Pamela’s daughters had no idea that their playmates were victims, but Pamela knew that having other children around could make court less frightening for the abused children. Next, Pamela renovated a room at the State Attorney’s Office. She and her family spent hours and days painting and decorating, turning an extra office into a safe, friendly place they could go during their court proceedings. Pamela began to recruit leaders in the community. She began to envision that the CAC would have its own building. It would be an all-in-one kidfriendly safe haven. Doctors, counselors, law enforcement personnel, and attorneys would come to the child, rather than the child having to visit numerous unfamiliar and frightening offices. Pamela began to garner resources and build community support for what we now know as the Gulf Coast Children’s Advocacy Center. Allan Bense once jokingly said, “I finally gave her money so she’d leave me alone.” And, likewise, Guy Tunnell, Sheriff and FDLE Commissioner at the time, joked, “I couldn’t tell her no. She scared me to death.” Kathleen confirms, “She could not do anything on a small scale.” With fundraising and grants, the CAC was officially in business in March of 2000.
In August 2001, in the prime of her career with strong community support to run for State Attorney, Pamela was diagnosed with colon cancer. She did not pursue the State Attorney seat, as she didn’t feel it would be fair to her constituents. Pamela fought cancer for four years, but she also continued to fight for the
CAC. In March 2005, the property where the Gulf Coast Children’s Advocacy Center stands today at 210 East 11th Street, had been purchased, and the Martin Theatre hosted an event dedicating the building to its founder, Mrs. Pamela Smoak. In the last days of her life, even under the care of hospice, Pamela was holding board meetings at the foot of her bed. She never tired of her vision. Before she died in August of 2005, Pamela was able to see the blueprints for the new CAC.
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Lori Allen, Executive Director, Gulf Coast Children’s Advocacy Center
Panama City is my home. It’s where I was lovingly given a childhood I can recall fondly, and where I hope to share some of the same experiences with our children. To me, all children should be afforded a childhood free of abuse and neglect. Helping these precious lives in my hometown has become my passion, my purpose, and I do so tirelessly. This is where Pam and I are most alike. I can remember hearing Pam’s name and recall her working on cases with my father years ago, but when she passed, I was just moving back to Panama City after completing college and beginning my career in child welfare. I never was awarded the experience of knowing her as an adult.
I can remember in my first week at the CAC, finding her personal rocking chair stored for safekeeping. I pulled it into my office and, within a few months, it was used several times to rock, hug, and comfort children in need. I felt my connection with her then and, on tough days, I look up at her and am reassured I must keep the course. Nothing must deter the ability to offer safety, security, hope, and healing. We have come far, but we have far to go. However, none of this would be possible without Pamela Smoak’s vision, determination, and tenacity. I pray we will keep her smiling from above.
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Today, the Gulf Coast Children’s Advocacy Center houses a Child Protection Team complete with medical providers, nurse care coordinator, multiple therapists, and numerous specially trained advocates whose mission is to “provide a trauma-sensitive, specialized approach to assess, identify, treat and prevent sexual assault and child abuse through the coordination of community resources.” In 2014, the CAC served more than 1100 children. When asked how her mother would feel if she could see the CAC today, Kathleen says, “It meant so much to her—she would have been over the moon.”
[author image=”https://www.panamacityliving.com/media/2014/07/Renee-Warren.jpg” ]Renee lives with her husband and two daughters in Panama City, where she has been a local for 23 years. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Florida State University in 2006 and has since worked in substance abuse counseling, children, and family services, and elder social services. She currently works with low income senior citizens in Downtown Panama City. Renee has begun pursuing her Master’s Degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Troy University and plans to resume Master’s classes fulltime. Renee’s passions are research, writing, social justice, and personal and social sustainability. [/author]