Stories From the Vault: The Original Unsung Hero of OARS

Pam Wendt Was the Backbone of OARS

Each year OARS honors a small group of Unsung Heroes among our staff. The peer-nominated awards are granted to individuals who routinely go above and beyond to help make OARS successful, but are often working behind the scenes. If anyone looked back at the company’s formative years, it’s safe to say that Pam Wendt would have been the original Unsung Hero—she was undoubtedly the backbone of OARS, and often not given her due credit.

OARS’ late founders George and Pam Wendt were married in 1969, the same year they began outfitting non-motorized commercial rafting trips in Grand Canyon. George would later reveal that it was Pam who came up with the name for their fledgling rafting business, and was the creative inspiration behind many of the company’s early signature branding initiatives.

“The name OARS was all hers, derived from the acronym for Outdoor Adventure River Specialists and perfectly representing our row trip philosophy,” George shared in a letter from 2012. “Buying only yellow rafts? Her idea. Moving to Angels Camp to base our business near the extraordinary Stanislaus River? Her impetus.”

As the company was finding its footing, Pam played a supportive role across all spectrums, whether that meant writing hand-written thank you notes to guests, helping with food packs, or driving shuttle vehicles.

Most infamously in those early days, Pam drove the large mail truck that George had acquired to accommodate the complicated shuttling logistics for Grand Canyon river trips.

“This big rig was large enough that we could drive a 12-passenger van up into its belly along with all of our equipment for a two-week trip through the Grand Canyon,” told George. “Once there, Pam would drive the passenger van off to pick up our guests while rafts were inflated and loaded to the hilt with gear and supplies.”

“When the passengers arrived at the river, my crew and I would take them downriver on the adventure of a lifetime while Pam drove the mail truck—with a guest van swallowed up inside—the 240 some odd miles to Peach Springs,” continued George. “From there, she’d catch an Amtrak train back to Los Angeles and her day job as an X-ray technician. Two weeks later, Pam would return to Peach Springs, pick up the truck and drive down Diamond Creek to meet me and our group.”

Those who knew her best, however, say it was Pam’s voice of reason that was undoubtedly her greatest asset to George and the company’s growth.

“Pam’s instincts were good, and I think tamped down some of George’s crazier ideas, and mine as well,” according to Richard Bangs, co-founder of Sobek Expeditions—another adventure travel company George helped launch in the early 70’s. “I think the combination of George and Pam was part of the formula for success. They would bounce things off each other and she would be the one who would try to understand the reality of a situation and pull him back.”

“But at the same time, if she found merit in one of his crazy ideas, she would be wholeheartedly behind it and say, ‘Let’s go for it.’ And she would support him,” continued Bangs.

According to Nate and Kelly Bricker, who in tandem with OARS, founded Rivers Fiji, “Pam was bold, which pushed OARS to set out on new endeavors and move forward with new initiatives and creative experiences for its guests.”

By all accounts, Pam was the force of nature behind OARS.

“Sometimes the canyon wall, resolute and unmovable in her beliefs and at other times the sandbar, shifting ever so slightly in the current, but still forceful enough to change its course,” wrote the Brickers in remembrance of Pam. “She influenced, guided, and coaxed the company to become its better self.”