Isabel Anicker Palmer

PALMER, ISABEL ANICKER Isabel Anicker Palmer, 94, passed away March 26, 2013. She is loved and will be dearly missed. She will be remembered by many as a loyal friend, an avid bridge player, a dedicated member of her community, and a true embodiment of Christian love. Her daughters will remember her as a loving mother who believed in the power of positive thinking and trusted that she could do all things through Christ who strengthened her. She taught her grandchildren to be fierce competitors, mostly by ruthlessly beating them at every card game imaginable. Isabel was born on April 13, 1918 in Peoria, Illinois, a single child to loving parents. She graduated with a Home Economics degree from Bradley University, where she was a Pi Beta Phi, and later taught 7th and 8th grade. It was while teaching that she met her late husband, Norman Edward Palmer. They married on December 28, 1941 and celebrated 38 years of marriage before he passed away in 1979. During World War II, Isabel lived in Washington, D.C. where she had two daughters, moved several times, then settled into a home on Wellington Road in Homewood in 1951. It was while living there that she welcomed her third daughter and celebrated decades of happy memories. She lived on Wellington Road until 2011, when she moved into Brookdale Place off Lakeshore Drive, which she preferred to call her first "sorority house experience" because she lived at home throughout college. She later moved to Town Village where she made wonderful friends. While in Birmingham, Isabel devoted herself to her community even as she was raising her three daughters. She served as the Alabama Chapter President of PEO, a Deacon at Shades Valley Presbyterian Church, President of the Civiettes, a charter member of The Club, a reading aid in local schools, and President of the Salvation Army Women's Auxiliary of Jefferson County. During these years of service, she continued her love of education and fostered that love in others. Visitation will be from 6:00-8:00 p.m. on Friday, March 29, at Ridout's Valley Chapel of Homewood on Oxmoor Road. A funeral and reception will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 30, at Shades Valley Presbyterian Church and will be followed by a graveside service at 1:30 p.m. at Elmwood Cemetery. Dr. Taylor Todd will officiate the service. Isabel is survived by daughters Joan Johnson, Shirley Childs (Scott), and Patti Zedrow (Dan); her grandchildren Lloyd Johnson (Holly), Caysal Lackey (Wayne), Kristi Smith (Tim), Todd Johnson (Betsy), Ashley Kappel (Brian), Joshua Childs, Erin Bischoff (Brandon), and Jayme Zedrow; and her great grandchildren Zane, Alex, Ella, Lily, Gabrielle, Sienna, Ethan, Carolyn, Tyler, Isabel, Audrina, Gideon, Hudson, and Abigail, with two more due in April of this year. In lieu of flowers, Isabel's family prefers that donations be made to the PEO Scholarship Fund or the Salvation Army in honor of her many years of service.