John William Palmer

Johnny Palmer (John William Palmer) was the third child born to Hannah Myfanwy (Van) Williams and Charles Vernon (Vern or CV) Palmer. He was born in Pocatello, Idaho. He had two older sisters, Yvonne and Beth, and one younger brother, Stanley Edlin (Ed). When he was a boy, Johnny’s nickname was Jack, named after his grandfather, John Adelbert Palmer, who was also called Jack. When he started high school he began using his given name, John or Johnny.

Vern worked for the Railroad. During the Depression, the railroad would do temporary layoffs, during which time, Johnny’s family moved frequently to wherever Vern could find work until the railroad would activate him. In 1935, when Johnny was six years old, the family moved to Alta, Idaho. They shared a house with the Cooper Family. In the winter, they would hitch the dogs onto the sled and take the Cooper boy and Johnny to school about three miles away. Then after school they came back to get the boys and take them home. Later they were able to ride a school bus. The bus driver, Verb Turner, gathered up his children and the Palmer children in a sheep camper on Saturday nights and drive them to Driggs, Idaho to go to the show, then back home. Before the trip, the children would heat up large rocks and put them in the sheep camper to keep warm.

In April 1937, the Palmer family moved to Tyhee, Idaho, and lived in a trailer house/tent until they built a log garage, 20 feet square. Johnny and his brother Ed went to elementary school in Tyhee. Johnny recalled that his mother was good and generous, giving food and gasoline to the Native Americans when they asked. They knew where to come for help. Johnny said it was like the house was marked; they all stopped to ask for help until his dad found out about it.

His mother, Myfanwy, was always active in Church. She was a Primary Counselor and a Primary teacher of the boys. Johnny loved the yearly kite-flying activity that she held. The family was very poor, but Myfanwy taught the children to have fun with what they had. Johnny enjoyed playing Kick the Can, Run Sheep Run, Walking the Barrels, Hide the Thimble, and Old Maid. One of his favorite activities was playing games with his older sister, Yvonne. She would play the piano and the children would all sing. Johnny recalled that his mother made the small building they lived in seem like a nice home, especially at Christmas time, when she decorated it for the holidays. She and the children made paper chains, and strings of cranberries and popcorn for the tree and the house.

Johnny was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on 20 November 1938 by his home teacher in the First Ward LDS Chapel in Pocatello, which was the only church that had a baptismal font. He fondly remembered wearing white pants and a white shirt. He expressed that the seeds of his testimony were planted by his gentle, loving mother.

In 1940 the family moved into a cinder block house they had built. Myfanwy’s cancer was getting worse, requiring multiple operations. On 18 October 1941, Beth came into Johnny and Ed’s room at 4:30am and woke the boys. She told them that their mother had come to her in a dream and told her she was going home, and to take care of the boys. When Vern came home at 7am to tell the children their mother had died, they already knew she was gone. She was 41 years old, leaving her husband and four children. Johnny was 12 years old. Johnny recalls that the children’s lives were never the same after their mother’s death. He missed her terribly.

In June 1943, Vern Palmer married Verna Lenroot Rane, a railroad widow with five children: two sons and three daughters.

When he was 15, Johnny met Wanda Fay George on a double date. Johnny was the date of Wanda’s friend, but he fondly recalled the brown-haired beauty saying, “five foot two, eyes of blue, but OH, MY what five foot can do.” (and then he would chuckle). Soon Johnny and Wanda found more than friendship between them. They dated on and off through high school and were married in the Idaho Falls LDS Temple on May 7th, 1948. Johnny fondly reminisced that Wanda was his sweetheart for over 75 years. That was something everyone knew beyond a shadow of a doubt!

The newlyweds built their first home in Pocatello where Johnny worked for a local dairy. When he was 19 years old, he started his own distribution business. In 1951 they moved to Challis, Idaho where they distributed dairy products locally. Johnny managed the operations and Wanda was the business bookkeeper. In 1952 they established Palmer Distributing Company, distributing products from Idaho Falls and Pocatello to the central Idaho area into Montana. In 1954 they moved to Arco, a more central location, where they lived for 21 years. Johnny ran the trucking side of the company and Wanda was the office manager and accountant. They bought a warehouse in Arco for the business. They serviced grocery stores, schools, restaurants and hospitals. He expanded the product distribution from just dairy products to include meats, bakery goods, flour, frozen foods and soda pop. Three times a week, early in the morning Johnny would drive to Idaho Falls, load the semi, and be back in Arco before 5am so the products could be transferred into the delivery trucks. That early morning routine was life for over 21 years. Drue and his friends, Lyle Boyer and Spencer Williams, Wade and Van, when they grew older, helped load and unload trucks early in the mornings before school, and drove truck during the summer and on weekends. Johnny and Wanda also owned and operated another business, Shady Lawn Trailer Park.

Johnny loved his mother and father-in-law, Mary and John George, very much, and they loved him. He expressed great respect for them both. He admired their work ethic, their love for their family, and their strong testimonies of the Savior and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

One of Johnny’s favorite recreational past times was taking his family camping. Camping during the summer was a highlight. Johnny especially enjoyed riding the tote-gotes up in the mountains.

The children couldn’t wait until they were old enough to ride them. There are some very funny memories of tote-gote riding adventures. For the record. they don’t go up trees very well.

Wanda and Johnny were active in the lives of their children. They sponsored little league ball teams, bowling leagues, attended football and basketball games, debate meets, band concerts, drama productions, dances, scouting activities, and hauled gear and girls to Girls’ Camp each summer for years. Johnny and Wanda made sure that music was a big part of their family. Johnny was known for his beautiful whistling. He would whistle as he worked at the warehouse, in the trucks, or any time he was outside. His family loved hearing that beautiful sound.

Johnny was very active in Arco, Idaho community affairs, including Arco Lions Club, Rotary Club, Chamber of Commerce, and a Volunteer Fireman. It was a highlight at many community celebration parades to see Johnny drive his Model A Ford in the parade, representing Palmer Distributing. Johnny and Wanda completed the Dale Carnegie Course. After completion. The instructors asked Johnny to assist as an instructor. He traveled to Idaho Falls and Pocatello to teach.

His life was a life of service with a smile. He never met a stranger. Every person became his friend. He never passed someone in need without lending a hand, and he was always the first one to see who needed that help. He was a rescuer, a lighthouse, the perfect example of The Good Samaritan. He was very active in the Church of Jesus Christ, serving in the Young Men, Sunday School, Lost River Stake Clerk for 10 years, High Counselman, Stake Young Men, Scouts, High Priest Secretary, and others.

In 1975 the Palmers moved to Palmer Distributing Company to Salt Lake City where Johnny directed all of the distribution for Bonneville Can Company, the Coca-Cola bottling plant for the western United States. In 1978, Swire Company purchased Bonneville Can. Then in 1981 they bought out Palmer Distributing and hired Johnny to be their Transportation Director. When he retired from Coca-Cola in 1991, he and Wanda resumed Palmer Distributing again, finally retiring at the age of 80.

Johnny had a spiritual gift of receiving promptings. He learned at an early age to listen to and heed those promptings. Many events in the lives of his loved ones were preceded by him receiving a prompting about it. When he said “he had a feeling” about something, his family learned to pay attention!

In June 1979, their son, Van and Johnny’s father, Vern Palmer, were killed in a semi accident in what was scheduled to be Van’s “last haul” from Phoenix to Salt Lake. It was a very difficult time for Johnny and Wanda and the family.

The one place on earth where Johnny and Wanda could leave the cares of the world was their place in Island Park, Idaho. It is a place of peace and family gathering.

Many wonderful memories have been made in Island Park in the lives of their children, grandchildren and now great-grandchildren. Johnny’s greatest pride and joy was his Sweetheart, Wanda, and his family. He and Wanda made great effort to attend each of their children’s baby blessings, baptisms, ordinations, marriages, and graduations, which occurred frequently, in and out of state. He had a very active life of working hard, serving others, and mostly loving Wanda for the whole world to see, respect, and emulate. As his Alzheimer’s progressed, his health declined until he passed away on 5 January 2023 at Crescent Senior Living Center Memory Mission with his family beside him. He was 93 years old.

He is survived by 163 descendants, which include his children, Drue Kay Palmer, Susan Fay Palmer Gray, Marilee Palmer Gallacher, John Wade Palmer, Van G Palmer (deceased), Douglas Jay Palmer, and Jack Karl Haney, the children’s spouses, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.

As a family, we take great comfort in knowing the heavenly reunion that took place when he was reunited with his precious wife, his son, his mother, his little brother, in addition to a host of family and friends waiting to welcome him home. We are so grateful for the Savior’s Plan of Salvation and the blessings of the Temple and Eternal Families.