Allen Ray Palmer

Allen Ray Palmer, 76, of Colorado Springs, CO, passed away peacefully on June 25, 2025. Allen was born November 16, 1948, in Pine Bluff, AR, to Lola and Dean Palmer, the youngest of their five children. Growing up in the Pine Bluff area, he developed a love of hunting and fishing and was actively involved in school sports and activities. Al especially loved baseball since his family had a baseball field on their property, and their “field of dreams” was where Al and his brothers as well as the neighborhood kids came to play baseball. Also, Al grew up fishing and hunting in the Arkansas woods, streams and lakes. He graduated from Dollarway High School in 1966 and attended Arkansas A&M College (now University of Arkansas at Monticello) from 1966-68, earning an associate degree. In 1968, he married Anita Drake Taylor, enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, and their first child, Angela, was born. They lived in various states while Allen served in the Air Force during which time their second child, Andrew, was born. During his 10+ years in the Air Force, Allen earned the Airman’s Medal for Heroism (1972) and a Medal for Meritorious Service (1973). In 1973 he and his family relocated to Colorado where Al worked for 30 years in the aerospace industry for SAIC, Ford Aerospace and Lockheed Martin until his retirement.

Always the adventurer and outdoor sportsman, Al’s trips included hitchhiking and fishing his way across New Zealand, backcountry float and fishing trips in the Alaska wilderness, hunting for elk, deer and birds as well as organizing float trips down the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Living in Colorado allowed him to explore the state for fishing, hunting, and camping and then share his findings with family and friends. As a friend said, “Al was our Colorado guidebook to untouched places.” Yes, Al had the map of Colorado in his head and loved sharing out-of-the-way places for fishing, hunting and hiking. He spent many years taking on the challenge of elk hunting in the high country of Colorado and for 30 years was a committee member of the local chapter of Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. In addition, he enjoyed many years of trips to a friend’s farm in Kansas for bird hunting where he and his long-time hunting buddies as well as his brother and cousin gathered for the opening of bird hunting season.

In 1990 he married Christine Kingsolver Palmer, and they began their life together. They both loved the mountains of Colorado and spent many weekends camping, hiking, biking and fishing. There was nothing Al loved more than taking the camper out to the forests of Colorado to spend a weekend fishing for brook trout or just hiking the trails. Sitting around a campfire at night with family and friends and watching the stars shine after a day in the wilderness was like medicine to his soul.

Al’s MS, undetectable for many years, wasn’t about to deter him from traveling abroad with Chris to explore England and Scotland or from their outdoor adventures. He and Chris rented a motorhome and made their first of many trips to Alaska, a state they both grew to love for its quiet, calm, majestic beauty as well as its untouched wilderness, towering mountains, glaciers and waters full of salmon and halibut.

As his MS progressed Al refused to allow it to slow him down and continued to display a positive attitude, a fighting spirit and a smile. With support from the VA, he and Chris always managed to find a way around his disability and still enjoy a full life. When Al could no longer walk on his own, the VA gave him numerous wheelchairs as well as devices for the home to help him manage. They also gave him a 4-wheel drive wheelchair which allowed him to go fishing and hunt for quail and pheasant with his buddies in Colorado, Kansas and Oklahoma. For a number of years Al participated in the VA’s National Winter Sports Clinic where undaunted he learned to ski, shoot skeet and play sled hockey with other disabled veterans from across the US. He and Chris continued to travel and made many trips to California, Arizona, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Canada, Florida, Arkansas and Wyoming as they learned to navigate the world of hotel and airline accessibility. It wasn’t until after Al spent over four months at the Spinal Cord and Injury Center at the VA Hospital in Denver that he began to slow down and needed more care and eventually moved to Forest Ridge Senior Care Center in Woodland Park where he received loving care from their staff and spent his last days.

Al is survived by Christine Kingsolver Palmer, his wife of almost 35 years; former wife Anita Drake Taylor of Colorado Springs; son Andrew Palmer of Colorado Springs (spouse Wendy Palmer); brother Ronnie Palmer (spouse Donna Palmer) of Hardin, AR; grandson Colin Lanphear of Winnetka, CA; grandson Tyler Lanphear of Superior, CO; grandson Ian Palmer of Colorado Springs, CO; brother-in-law Stephen Kingsolver of Casper, WY; sister-in-law Nancy Kingsolver of Lakewood, CO and numerous nieces and nephews.

Allen was preceded in death by his mother Lola Heath Palmer; father, Dean Palmer; brother Phillip Palmer; brother Glenn Palmer; sister Eva Miller and daughter Angela Palmer.

Funeral Service will be on July 17, 2025 at 12pm at the Pikes Peak National Veterans Cemetery (10545 Drennan Road, Colorado Springs, 80925). The Celebration of Life will be on July 21, 2025 from 11am-2pm at Fox Run Regional Park, Pavilions 4 & 5 (2110 Stella Dr. Colorado Springs, CO 80921). In lieu of flowers the family asks you to honor Al by donating to the MS Alliance of Colorado Springs 7011 Campus Drive 80920 or to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.