Pam (Handy ‘65) Money, who was a consummate first lady for the university for two decades as the wife of former ACU President Royce Money, passed away on Nov. 25, 2024, in Abilene. A memorial service to honor Pam Money took place Nov. 30 at the University Church of Christ. She was 81.

Her husband Royce described her as a perfect blend of grace, candor, intelligence and fierce loyalty to her husband, family and ACU.

“Her physical appearance was striking, I mean she was a beautiful woman, but her inner beauty was greater,” Royce said. “She had terrific compassion for particularly marginalized people who were struggling. A big motivator for her going back and getting a second master’s degree was honing her skills so that she might be able to help people whose marriage or personal life was in trouble.”

Pam Money was born on Nov. 10, 1943, in Richmond, California, and she attended Abilene Christian College. Royce and Pam met when he was a sophomore and she was a freshman. In the first week of school in 1961, when no student center or technology existed to connect the distance, campus mailboxes were the best way to get in touch with people. After Chapel, all of the students would crowd to the mail center to check for letters from family, friends and courtships, and money sent from parents. This is where Royce said he first laid eyes on Pam. 

“When I first saw her I thought, ‘Oh, my goodness, I have got to know her better,’” Royce said. “I called her later on, and my ego suffered a little bit because she couldn’t remember who I was so she asked her roommate if I was a good guy.”

For their first date, they went to the drug store across the street, had a Coke and talked for about an hour. They dated off and on throughout college, and a month after graduating with her bachelor’s degree, she married her classmate Royce on Jan. 23, 1965, in San Antonio. While serving various roles in ministry, they lived in Silver Spring, Maryland, Montgomery, Alabama, Springfield, Missouri, Waco and Dallas. 

“We were best friends, and she would have told you the same thing,” Royce said. “The love that we shared was deep but so was the friendship. We enjoyed being together, and we never tired from that. She was a great life companion. She was the most intelligent and well-informed girl that I had come across.”

Royce and Pam did everything together, and Royce recalls memories from their travels together to almost 25 countries all over the world. When asked what it was that he loved most about his wife, he answered her unconditional love for him but said so many things come to mind that he can’t choose one thing.  

Pam earned three degrees from ACU. These include a B.S.Ed. and M.S.Ed. in elementary education completed in 1967 and a master’s in marriage and family therapy, completed in 1986. Throughout her earlier years, she taught preschool, kindergarten, first grade and second grade. As she got older, she took time to teach as an adjunct instructor in the Department of Bible, Missions and Ministry and the ACU’s Department of Teacher Education, which included working as a supervisor of student teachers. 

Royce joined ACU’s Marriage and Family Institute faculty in 1981, leading the couple to move back to Abilene. In 1984 he became the director of the ministry program in Bible before becoming the next director of the Doctor of Ministry program. In 1991, Royce was inaugurated as the 10th president of ACU. This was historic because they were the first president and first lady at ACU to be fully licensed marriage and family therapists. 

Pam was a clinical member in the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy with a private practice downtown for a few years, and she served on the Abilene boards of Hendrick Health Hospice Care, Serenity House and Global Samaritan Resources Inc.  

“She had a way of making people feel comfortable,” Royce said. “She knew she occupied a very influential position, but had you visited with her, you would never have figured that out. She was very accepting of all kinds of people regardless of their background.”

The impact of Royce and Pam are seen on campus with the Royce and Pam Money Student Recreation and Wellness Center, a location opened in 2011 that greatly serves the ACU community. Royce and Pam also hosted an event called Walk With Money to raise money for the organization Women for ACU. Several seminars and workshops were hosted by the couple to provide resources for parenting, divorce and saving families in times of hardship. 

When Pam was not at her clinic or other engagements, she passionately involved herself with the students at ACU. She provided counseling and monitoring opportunities to hundreds of young adults. She never stopped serving others even after her license expired. She maintained a servant’s heart to the very end of her time. 

A scholarship named the Pam Money Endowed Scholarship for Teacher Education was established ​in 2010 by the trustees when Royce retired to honor Pam and the contribution she made to ACU. This scholarship foundation was very near to Pam’s heart, and even as she knew her time was approaching, the security of this funding for future teachers was close to the front of her mind. 

“One of the last things she said to me as she was very ill was that I want to make sure that there is enough money in that scholarship fund to help needy students who want to be teachers,” Royce said. “That was a passion for her. She was an education advocate, and she had almost a magical quality in working with little children. They loved her and were naturally drawn to her. That was a real gift that she had.”

Pam served on the President’s Council for the Centennial and was a member of Women for ACU. In later years of academic involvement, Royce and Pam served as visiting faculty in the Fall of 2010 in Oxford, England and Spring 2011 in Leipzig, Germany. They later led a weeklong trip with students to the sites of the “Seven Churches of Asia” mentioned in the Bible’s Book of Revelation, and scattered throughout modern-day Turkey.

One unique hobby of Pam’s was collecting bunnies. Bunnies filled her heart with joy, and her and Royce’s home is filled with bunny knick-knacks. When loved ones and friends of Pam would learn of her love for bunnies, they would gift her even more to add to her collection. 

“She was famous for collecting bunnies,” Royce said. “In my house, you can probably see 15 or 20 just sitting in the living room. The grandkids have tried to count them but have given up at 100 or so. She collected those the last 40 to 45 years with a collection of all sizes and shapes, and the largest one is five feet tall.”

Pam was preceded in death by her parents, James Handy and Eula Handy Pruett; and a sister, Darlene (Handy ’65) Voss.

She is survived by Royce, her husband of ​59 years; daughters Alison (Money ’91) Elliott (husband Nino Elliott (’92)) of North Richland Hills and Jennifer (Money ’93) Crisp (husband Dr. Brad Crisp (’93)) of Abilene; grandchildren David Elliott (’18), Elizabeth (Elliott ’20) Cheek (husband Carson Cheek (’21)), Andrew Elliott (’23), Jon Crisp (’20) (wife Kendall (Bosse ’19) Crisp), and Caleb Crisp (’22); and great-grandchildren Carter Crisp and Cameron Crisp.

“Her main hobby, love and passion was her children and her grandchildren,” Royce said. “She fiercely loved and unconditionally loved. If you were to ask her, she would say [her children and her grandchildren] are her best accomplishments.”

As Pam came closer to her passing, even through her suffering, she maintained a positive and sweet attitude that still provided comfort to Royce and her family. 

“She said ‘I’m ready, and I want to go home,” Royce said. “The first time she said that I said ‘Well sweetheart, you are home,’ and she said ‘no, I mean home,’ and by that she meant Heaven. She was a strong faithful Christian woman and an inspiration to many people because of her faith. She looked death in the face and said ‘I’m ready.”

It is the request of Pam and her family that in lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Pam Money Endowed Scholarship for Teacher Education (ACU Box 29132, Abilene, Texas 79699-9132 or bit.ly/PamMoney).