W K PALMER (VETEERAN 2 WARS)

COLONEL US Army
World War II
Korea
May 25, 1909 - June 27, 2009




Colonel (Ret.) W.K. Palmer, age 100, of Little Rock, Arkansas, died June 27, 2009 at Baptist Hospital. A native Texan, he was born in Purdon, Texas on May 25, 1909 and was the youngest of six children born to the late Ernest David Parker Palmer and Daisy Gunning Palmer. He was reared in Corsicana, Texas, educated in the public schools there, graduated from Corsicana High School and received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance and Marketing at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. Upon graduation, he earned an officer’s commission in the U.S. Military and was a member of the Sul Ross Class. He married Elizabeth Smith in Texarkana, Arkansas, on April 30, 1939 and they made their first home in Bakersfield, California, where he was employed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cotton Division. In 1941, he was called to active duty in the U.S. Army Air Corp, stationed at Hammer Field in Fresno, California during World War II. In the Korean War, he served as Director of Personnel at Kelly Air Base in San Antonio, Texas. He retired with the rank of Colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve. Mr. Palmer had a long civilian career in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, beginning in 1935 in the Soil Conservation Service, headquartered in Tyler, Texas. In 1938, he transferred to the Cotton Division and began a series of career enhancing moves. He was a marketing specialist in Dallas, Texas; Bakersfield, California; and Washington D.C., before serving as Chairman of the Board of Cotton Examiners in Bakersfield, California; Galveston, Texas; Harlingen, Texas; and Lubbock, Texas. In 1961, he received the Merit Award for Outstanding Government Services in Agriculture. After 40 years of public service, Mr. Palmer retired on June 30, 1973 and he and Elizabeth moved from Lubbock, Texas, to Little Rock, Arkansas, in February 1977. They soon became involved in church, community and family activities there. He was a 32nd Degree Mason, received his 50 year pin and held perpetual membership in Pulaski Heights Lodge, #673 F, and AM, and the Arkansas Consistory and Scimiter Temple. He received the Pillars of Solomon Award from the Grand Lodge of Arkansas for Outstanding Service to the Lodges. He was a member of the Association of Former Students of Texas A&M, the Park Plaza Lions Club, the American Association of Retired Persons, Chapters #3053 and #34, a life member of the Retired Officers Association, now known as the Military Officers Association of America. He was an active member of Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church, the Butler Sunday School Class and the Society of St. Stephen, a part of the Caring Ministry of PHUMC. He was a life member of the Board of Stewards. He considered his greatest accomplishment as being a treasured grandfather and fulfilling his grandsons’ ideal as the “World’s Greatest O’Daddy.” Mr. Palmer was preceded in death by his beloved Elizabeth in 2007. He is survived by one son, Robert William Palmer; two grandsons, Justin William Palmer of Boston, Massachusetts, and William Jeffrey Palmer, M.D., and his wife Amy, of Little Rock, Arkansas; one great-granddaughter, Emma Eileen Palmer; and twin great-grandsons, William Jeffrey Palmer, Jr. and Nathaniel Miller Palmer. A gathering in memory of W.K. Palmer will be at 2:00 p.m., Wednesday, July 1, 2009 at Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church with Reverend Vic Nixon presiding. There will be no visitation. Private family committal services at the Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church Columbarium will follow the memorial church service. Memorials may be made to Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church Foundation, 4823 Woodlawn, Little Rock, Arkansas, 72205.

Contributed on 1/16/23 by eagle12953
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Record #: 1465528

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