Pamela Balash-Webber

Pamela "Pam" Sue Balash-Webber (1953-2020)^[1] was an American diving instructor and ocean conservationist.^[2][3]

Pamela Balash-Webber

She was born in Albion, Michigan, and lived most her life on Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. She had a sister.^[1]

Balash-Webber worked for the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) organization for many years, and became a district course director in 1989. She was one of the first two American women to teach recreational diving in Russia.^[2] With her husband, Andre, she owned and ran a diving club on Saint Thomas. They worked together to have moorings installed at dive sites in the United States Virgin Islands to protect the reefs from damage.^[2][3]

Andre died in 2014, 54 years old.^[4] Pamela died in late 2020, having had scleroderma and rheumatoid arthritis for several years. They share an underwater memorial at Andres reef, near Buck Island.^[1][2]

In 2022, she was one of five women to be inducted into the Women Divers Hall of Fame.^[5]

References

1. "Pamela Sue Balash-Webber". The Virgin Islands Daily News. 9 January 2021. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
2. Kirkpatrick, Sara (6 September 2021). "St. Thomas woman to be inducted into Women Divers Hall of Fame". The Virgin Islands Daily News. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
3. "2022 Pamela Balash-Webber". WDHOF. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
4. "Life of Andre Webber to be Celebrated Nov. 9". St. John Source. 23 September 2014. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
5. Helmu, Sam (31 August 2021). "Women Divers Hall Of Fame Announces Five New Inductees". www.deeperblue.com. Retrieved 21 June 2022.