Obituary: Kevin Palmer

Herald and News

Klamath Falls, Oregon
November 4, 2004

Grand Teton National Park employee Kevin Palmer, 50, died Oct. 28, 2004, of a heart attack while hunting with his oldest son Charles on the National Elk Refuge in Jackson, Wyo. At one time, Mr. Palmer had worked at Crater Lake National Park.
For the past eight years, he served as the park’s facility operations manager and roads supervisor.

A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday in the Mariposa Funeral Home in Mariposa, Calif. Visitation will precede the service from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. Another memorial service will be held at noon Wednesday, at Grand Teton National Park in Moose, Wyo. Private interment will be at the family’s private cemetery in Mariposa.
Mr. Palmer, a Native American and member of the Yokut and Chukchansi Indian Tribes, was born Nov. 28, 1953, in Mariposa.

He began his federal career as a firefighter with the U.S. Forest Service when he was 18 years old. Within two years, he was selected for a position with the National Park Service at Yosemite National Park on a resource management crew removing trees and stabilizing stream banks.

Seven years later he was transferred into the maintenance division and worked on road crews.

After 15 years at Yosemite National Park, he accepted a position as roads foreman and supervisor at Crater Lake National Park in 1989, managing the the park’s extensive snow plowing operations.

In 1996, he was transferred to Grand Teton National Park. Along with his other duties, he organized and managed the park’s Youth Conservation Corps program and worked regularly with national fire management teams, serving as a fire base camp manager, facility manager, and overall “Jack of all trades” for numerous wildland fire incidents throughout the western part of the United States.

Mr. Palmer was also known for his ability to facilitate hundreds of National Park Service special events, which included numerous presidential visits, visits from foreign heads of state, and large-scale public events and celebrations in various national parks.
Survivors include his wife, the former Pam Icardo; sons Chris of Chiloquin, Charles of Medford and Ben of Bend; mother Lucille Palmer of Mariposa; sisters Rose Ford of Clovis, Calif., Jane Gordon of Onyx, Calif., and Jill Bull of Mariposa; brothers William of Ukiah, Calif., Robbie of Prineville, and Michael of Mariposa; and grandchildren Cierra and Makiah Palmer of Medford.
Cards and notes can be mailed to Pam Palmer, P.O. Box 170, Moose, WY 83012.

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