By Ruth Ann Ruiz
The Post Newspaper Features Editor
Behind every great idea is someone who had the idea and the courage and determination to see it through. Some ideas are more colorful than others, and Pam Schwertner has no fear of color or of coloring outside the lines.
Determined to have a rose gold automobile to go with her rose gold Realtor business cards, she searched the region until she found a dealership in Sugar Land with one remaining rose gold SUV, which she bought. She also owns a 2002 pink Corvette.
She’s a woman who believes in doing what she can to make her community a better place for everyone, even if it means creating something others have never heard of. She’s also a woman who knows how to lose with dignity and grace.
“Sure, I would have loved to win, but I don’t regret any of it. Because of it, I have made a lot of great friends,” said Schwertner of her political bid for Galveston County Treasurer in 2010.
She served on the Santa Fe City Council for a two-year term but did not win a second term. She did not walk away from guiding and supporting her small town, however. She serves as vice president of the Santa Fe Economic Development Corporation, along with other community service work.
Pam hails from Baytown and has lived in Santa Fe for 52 years.
“I met my husband, and he was from Santa Fe,” she explained of how she came to be one of Santa Fe’s biggest champions.
“We have our flaws in Santa Fe, but it’s a great community,” said Schwertner.
As a member of the executive board for United Way Galveston County Mainland, she has found a place where she can make a difference in the lives of many people.
“That’s my sweet spot because we support many different nonprofits on the mainland,” said Schwertner.
Not only does she lend a hand to others, but she also enjoys life and is someone you might want as a neighbor, friend or sister.
Her eyes lit up as she remembered watching an elephant on the floor of the Texas Republican Convention in June. She serves as the Precinct 278 chair for the Texas Republican Party.
She talked about the students in Galveston County who have received scholarships from Precinct 278 and how much it means to them, and to her, to be able to award five $1,000 scholarships to college or trade school students each year.
Schwertner is the woman behind what has become a Galveston County annual tradition: Bra Dazzle, a fundraising event supporting UTMB’s mobile mammogram services. This year’s event will be held Thursday at the San Luis Resort.
“I had a good friend who was diagnosed with breast cancer, and I saw some videos of breast cancer survivors dancing,” Schwertner explained of what inspired her to host the first Bra Dazzle at Haak Winery.
One of the winery’s former owners and her sisters have all had breast cancer, so the couple donated everything for the first event.
After 10 years of heading the event, she was ready to step down. Around the time of the pandemic, she handed the show over to a team of mostly men: Sheriff Jimmy Fullen, Constable Paul Edinburgh and County Commissioner Joe Giusti, along with the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce, SMI Insurance Agency, Texas First Bank and UTMB.
Though she is no longer running the show, she continues to promote and participate in the excitement and bling.
While her sweet spot is her work with United Way, and Bra Dazzle seems to have shot her to everlasting fame in Galveston County, her eyes lit up brighter than her pink Corvette when I asked if she had children and grandchildren.
“Oh gosh, yes!” she exclaimed.
Pam has two daughters and two grandsons. Her maternal warmth and pride as she talked about each grandson made me want to have a glass of milk and chocolate chip cookies with her.
Just after Bra Dazzle, the event she made possible, wraps up, the next event she is chairing will be ready to roll out Saturday, Oct. 3.
Pam said she had 30 days to plan the American Hometown Revival, to be held at Walter Hall Park in League City from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The event will include live music, food trucks, kid zone activities, vendor booths, a chili cook-off, a very special gold car and a lil miss patriot pageant.
Pam has clearly been a doer and a giver in Galveston County, and if you wanted a blanket to curl up with and watch TV at her house, she just might have some extras hanging around from the years when her daughters brought their friends home.
