Doris Palmer

Life, A Gift Received and Given Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength. Saint Francis de Sales. Doris Anderson Palmer has fulfilled that simple yet profound expression of wisdom for the sake of her children, for the perpetuation of love in the world, and in the name of God. We all have benefited from the beautiful life of this woman, wife, and mother. To be good and kind to others was her motivation. Gratitude was a way of life. Love was her purpose. And love is her reward. She was filled with the spirit of life—to be happy, to sing, to be optimistic, to learn and be amazed and to love unconditionally. She in turn has been an inspiration to us all. We have been given a gift, this woman with a saintly soul: a wife, a mother, a sister, and a friend, and she will be present within us for the rest of our lives and in the lives of our children. Doris Anderson Palmer was born on July 22, 1927 in Beloit, Wisconsin. She was a daughter of Norwegian immigrants who owned a family farm in Colfax, Wisconsin where Doris spent her summers as a child with her three sisters and brother. In those early photographs, one can see a sunny girl, a flower blossoming, with a smile that would be so often on her face during her life. As a young girl, following her mother's death, she moved to live with her Aunt Inga on the south side of Chicago where she grew up, and where she met the love of her life, John (Jack) W. Palmer, Jr. The profound love and admiration that began in those early years would be an unwavering and sustaining foundation for Doris and Jack for 65 wonderful years. The life Doris led with her love, her friend, her husband was soon blessed with seven children and, eventually, beloved grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Our father constantly reminded her of how she completed all of our lives. She was the embodiment of motherhood. Her family was her joy. She woke the family up each morning with song. She taught her children to care for one another. She reminded her children how togetherness matters, and to be fair and kind to one another day in and day out. Our mother encouraged us to do well in school, and to be restful and mindful in quiet times. We had laughter and fun in our home. She taught songs, she played games, she took us on adventures to parks and abroad. She and our father took our family on vacations to green Wisconsin lakes, to white deserts and red canyons, to bustling cities, and on other grand adventures in the iconic station wagon rolling across America. She planned holidays filled with color, songs, treats, but she never forgot to include the ever-important teachings and stories of the true meanings of Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving. Our mother gave her family the gift of treasured memories. Doris had an insatiable curiosity and a love for geography that led to adventures all over the world with Jack: standing among the terra cotta soldiers of China, combing the beaches of Torremolinos and the Costa Del Sol, participating in Elderhostel in Ireland, swashbuckling with Caribbean pirates, climbing the white marble steps of Grecian villages, reveling in a train trip through the Australian outback, cruising through the Amazon jungle and down the coast to Argentina. And always she and our father would bring back to their kids and grandkids the many stories from the travels and the trinkets that still sit on the shelves of our homes: Jamaican musical instruments, Mexican marionettes, hand-carved figurines from Peru. Doris lived a story and shared it abundantly. Doris loved people she met all over the world. She made friends easily and she embraced people readily. She had the wonderful ability to make people happy and feel at ease with her smile, her simple elegance, her humble demeanor, and her heartwarming wisdom. And people all over the world loved her in return. They could see and feel the flower of her kind soul. Doris was a devout Catholic who loved and fully lived her faith with devotion to God. In moments of sublimity in her daily prayers, she could see into the mystery. In her faith, she reminds us all of the importance of believing in God, in hope, in healing, in wholeness. Her determination to be helpful and to spread goodness went beyond her family. Doris spent countless hours helping in church and community projects throughout her life, and did so with friendliness and a true sense of humility. It was a clear goal in her life to find and fulfill needs in her portion of the world, and many will remember her for her wonderful contributions. We have lost something in our lives for now. We will miss her deeply. When we remember how wonderfully and fully Doris lived her life, we find comfort. She showed us all how a beautiful life is lived; with wonder, purpose, zest, and unconditional love. It is the gift she has given to us all, and we are grateful. Doris, Mother, Mom, Ma, Grandma, Great-Grandma, you were filled with light in life — light in your heart, light in your eyes and on your face, light in your mind. You are and always will be that sunny flower shining on us, in us, and beyond us forever. Funeral Mass will be celebrated Thursday, January 8, 2015, 10:00 AM, at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, 2375 East Arizona Avenue, in Denver, Colorado. Lunch and a reception will follow. Inurnment follows at Mount Olivet Cemetery, 12801 West 44th Avenue, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Memorials may be made in Doris' name to: St. Vincent de Paul School 1164 South Josephine Street Denver, Colorado 80210 earmarked for Tuition Assistance Please share your memories of Doris and condolences with her family by signing the guestbook below.