Teaching Kitchen Named for Outen After 50-Plus-Year Career

When Pam Outen’s NC State Extension colleagues in Cabarrus County started brainstorming ideas for her retirement sendoff last year, they faced a conundrum: What do you get a person who retires after more than 50 years of service as a retirement gift?

“We said, ‘You can’t just get her a plant or a standard retirement present,'” said Tracy LeCompte, Extension director in Cabarrus County.

LeCompte pitched this idea to her co-workers: Name the county teaching kitchen where Outen hosted a cooking show, Pam’s Kitchen, in her honor. They loved her suggestion. So did the Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners, which voted to approve the naming recognition.

When Outen’s colleagues hosted her retirement party in the teaching kitchen in November, they revealed the kitchen’s new name: the Pamela C. Outen Teaching Kitchen.

“That was really very, very unexpected and very, very moving,” Outen said.

NC State recognized Outen and other NC State employees for their years of service at the annual Service Awards ceremony in Talley Student Union in December. Outen was the only employee recognized for 50 years of service. She received a glass award and a wooden map of the state for being the employee who had the most years of service.

The university honors employees after they reach five years of service and for every subsequent five years. The honorees select gifts as tokens of appreciation from the university for their service.

“I still don’t believe I was recognized for 50 years,” Outen said. “I think somebody must have miscounted or something.”

Outen Taught Classes, Supported 4-H Youth

Outen retired in January after spending her entire career at NC State working for Extension.

Her first experience in Extension was as a summer intern in 1972 in Union County.

“That fall, I was a student teacher, and it was an interesting experience,” Outen said. “But after working as an intern with Extension and teaching in a high school classroom, I knew Extension was a better path for me.”

Outen said she is grateful for the opportunities her career afforded her, from working with 4-H members and collaborating with community partners to the cooking show she hosted.

Outen and David Goforth, a former Cabarrus County horticulture Extension agent, co-hosted a cooking show called Simply Local on the Cabarrus County public access channel. The show became Pam’s Kitchen after Goforth retired.

“One of my goals was to teach people that they could plan nutritious meals for the week and prepare them quickly and easily when they got home from work,” Outen said.

‘The Epitome of a Professional’

Beverly Bollenbecker, one of Outen’s former colleagues in Cabarrus County, met Outen as an 8-year-old 4-H member. She said she considers Outen a mentor.

“Her energy and knowledge always had a lasting impression on me,” said Bollenbecker, a 4-H program associate.

Outen’s colleagues said their office has not been the same since Outen retired. They miss Outen’s wonderful attributes, especially the concern she always showed for how they were doing, and her professionalism and witty stories. Her colleagues described her as one of the best advocates and representatives of Extension they’ve met.

“She was the epitome of a professional,” LeCompte said. “You never caught Pam disheveled. Even on days when she was not 100 percent, she never looked it. She was a confident professional who always dressed her best. Everybody joked she never aged. She looked the same over the years. Her glasses just changed.”

Bollenbecker said she was glad she had the opportunity to thank Outen before she retired.

“I told her how much I appreciated her support throughout the years and how much it meant to me as a 4-H’er and someone who worked with her,” Bollenbecker said.

This post was originally published in University Human Resources News.