Pam Mehalko Loved to Walk the Streets of Downtown Campbell

Pam Mehalko was very friendly to all those who knew her. She enjoyed walking downtown in the early morning and would get really close to those she encountered along the way, just to say hello.

Mehalko, 49, died unexpectedly on Sunday. Her family wishes to thank everyone who was a part of her life.

"She always had high spirits, never complained and liked people," says her father Ted Mehalko, a regular at . "She had lots of friends here."

Mehalko was born in New Orleans at Hotel Dieu, renamed University Hospital, on Dec. 27, 1962. Her father, an aerospace engineer with Boeing at the time, traveled extensively from Hawaii to Mexico, and before coming to California, Pennsylvania.

When Mehalko was about 8 months old, she developed an astigmatism in one of her eyes and, at the suggestion of a pediatrician, the family took her in to get it checked out. What they found out, instead, was that their infant daughter had a fibrous tumor on her optical nerve that was inoperable. The doctors told the family that the young girl would not make it past her 10th birthday.

When she did reach her 10th birthday, Mehalko was classified legally blind. This, however, did nothing to slow her down.

The young girl, in fact, surpassed the initial prognosis, and after the family moved to California, she attended Castlemont Middle School and graduated from Campbell High School as a special education student in 1980.

"She was very talented, very intelligent," her father says. "She enjoyed gymnastics, horseback riding. She was very physical."

As a teen, Mehalko took up weaving.

"When she was 7, she broke her leg and stayed home," says Constance Lane, Mehalko's mother. "I taught her how to make pot holders on a loom."

The 7-year-old would go door to door and sell her potholders for $3.50 each or $7 for the pair.

"We got pot holders for Christmas every year," Lane says.

And as an adult, because she could not drive, she became an expert in local public transportation and would walk where she could.

Every morning, she would get up around 2 a.m. and walk a few blocks from her apartment to her father's house so they could spend time together. From there, she'd begin her routine walk to downtown Campbell.

Pam Mehalko is survived by her father, Ted Mehalko; mother, Constance (Connie) Lane; and brother, Timothy Mehalko.

A celebration of her life will be held Saturday, from noon to 2 p.m. at , 1655 S. Winchester Blvd.

In lieu of flowers, donations made in Pam Mehalko's name to Second Harvest Food Bank are appreciated.