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.
