Mrs. NEAL (Shirley Mae Brooks) PALMER 1933-2007
WENDEL, BROOKS, PALMER, HARMENING, BENDA, JONES, KOOZER
Posted By: Volunteer
Date: 6/5/2007 at 19:58:39
Shirley Palmer
Shirley M. Palmer, 73, of Harpers Ferry died Monday, April 30, 2007 at Good Samaritan Center in Waukon. Funeral services will be held Friday, May 4 at 11 a.m. at St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Waukon, with Rev. Richard A. Iles officiating. Burial will be in Oak Hill Cemetery, Lansing. Friends may call from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday, May 3 at Martin Funeral Home in Waukon.
Shirley Mae Brooks Palmer was born June 10, 1933 in Waukon, the daughter of Kenneth and Colene (Wendel) Brooks. She was baptized and confirmed at St. Paul's United Methodist Church and graduated from Waukon High School in 1951.
December 18, 1954 she married Neal Palmer at St. Paul's Church. For several years, Shirley worked at Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon. Starting in the late 1950s, she operated Rainbow Gardens Ballroom in Waterville with Neal's parents. Later she and Neal owned and operated Rainbow Inn, also in Waterville, on their own.
Shirley was a member of the American Legion Auxiliary in Harpers Ferry and also served as an EMT with the Waterville Fire & Rescue Department for several years.
Throughout her life, Shirley was an avid outdoor lover. She had a passion for fishing and loved to spend a sunny day with her family on the Mississippi River, patiently baiting and emptying her children's hooks. Hunting game during the various seasons, combing the woods for ginseng and mushrooms, snowmobiling and feeding and identifying the many native birds were also favorite pastimes of hers.
Shirley also spent time raising a large garden and in recent years had become an accomplished quilter. Her family was very important to her as demonstrated by her total devotion to her husband Neal, the loving way she shared stories with her grandchildren, and the excitement she had about the future arrival of two more great-grandchildren.
Survivors include her husband Neal of Waukon; her six children, Debra C. Harmening of Stoddard, WI, Terri (Wilbur Kollmann) Palmer of Harpers Ferry, Kathy (Paul) Benda of Waukon, Kenny (Donna) and David D. (Betty) Palmer, both of Harpers Ferry, and Sandy (Harry) Jones of McGregor; 12 grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; a sister, Janet (Darrel) Koozer of Harpers Ferry; and a sister-in-law, Darlene Brooks of New Prague, MN. She is preceded in death by her parents and a brother, Wendel Brooks.
Honorary casketbearers are her granddaughters, Colene Troendle-Mertz, Jessie Palmer, Laura Valentine and Bonnie Palmer. Casketbearers are her grandsons, Kyle Troendle, Kadin Harmening, Josh and Levi Palmer, Jimmy and Billy Valentine, and Matt and Mark Benda.
Waukon Standard, May 2, 2007
Allamakee Obituaries maintained by Sharyl Ferrall.
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