Mary Catherine Palmer

As we all gently eased into spring, Mary Catherine Palmer started on her next journey in life. She passed away at her home on March 31, 2025 after having suffered a stroke on March 27. In her final days and hours, Mary was kept company by family and friends and made her passage with a smile on her face.

This event capped a truly remarkable life. Born in San Francisco on November 24, 1920, Mary lived to be 104 years and 4 months old.

She spent her early years living with her mother, at her grandmother’s home in Seattle. After her mother remarried, her new family left the grandmother’s home and moved to Pysht, a remote logging camp on the Olympic Peninsula.

Mary’s adventuresome spirit manifested itself early on in life as exemplified by a story she shared about getting into a boat and floating down the river, alone as a child, right to the sea, where her step-father found her and brought her home. She often spoke of how the forest animals were her friends then, and how she never met an animal that didn’t “need” fattening.

After leaving Pysht, Mary lived in Seattle where she sang in the Seattle Opera company. It was in Seattle that she met Evan Mattice, a clarinet player playing in a band. They got married and had two sons, Roger and Evan.

There was an empty lot beside their home and Mary decided to pasture a jersey cow on it. This led to her meeting the local feed store owner and before you knew it, Mary and Evan had bought the feed store! Mary tells about her driving her truck over the Snohomish pass, into Yakima, to buy hay, Roger and Evan in the seat beside her as she used the gearstick to gear down and up as she navigated the pass! Some of her customers were estate gardeners buying bird seed. Mary ended up trading bird seed for their excess bedding plants, and a nursery and a life-long passion for growing things was born.

Evan took a WWII float plane, complete with bullet holes, removed the wings and converted it into a power boat. They sailed Puget Sound and the BC coast looking for a special place to enhance their life style. The search ended when they saw an advertisement in the Seattle Times Real Estate section, advertising the sale of a 640 acre island in the Strait of Georgia. They boarded a float plane from Seattle and flew up to Jedediah Island to have a look. After a lot of soul searching, Evan being the city guy, and Mary the Pysht girl, they entered into negotiations to buy the island and in 1949, using an inheritance received from her Grandmother, Mary and Evan bought Jedediah Island. Over the next 20 years Mary slowly paid off the debt, one month at a time, from her earnings.

Mary’s love of gardening and her knowledge of native plants grew to the point that some called her an expert and she became the Gardening Editor for the Seattle Times.

Mary and Evan eventually divorced, with Mary retaining ownership of Jedediah Island.

Soon after, while attending classes at the Seattle University, Mary met Al Palmer, a fisheries biologist. They got married in Las Vegas and settled in Seattle where they started up a successful nursery and Mary continued her work with the Seattle Times. Mary had an eye for design as exemplified by their first place finish in the Horticultural competition at the Seattle World’s Fair in 1962.

In 1972, after 11 years in business and in their early 50’s, Mary and Al sold the nursery and moved to Jedediah. They lived off the grid, relying on a VHF radio for communications with the outside world. Mary and Al put in a huge vegetable garden and husbanded cows, sheep, chickens and geese plus Will, the horse. Mary had beautifully flowering plants planted in every crevice on the rock surrounding the house.

During those early years, they had company at least once a week, as people from the various logging camps on Texada, tug boat captains and boaters would stop in for a visit. As time went by, many of these people moved to town and Mary and Al would go weeks without seeing anyone. Because of this, as well as their advancing age, and after almost 20 years of living on the island, Mary and Al decided to leave Jedediah and they moved to Nanoose Bay on Vancouver Island.

Mary and Al needed to sell Jedediah Island but at the same time, wanted the future of the Island secured as a Provincial Park. They worked diligently with various agencies, societies and friends of the Island, and after lots of hard work by all the parties, a deal was finally struck. Mary and Al accepted a lower price for the Island from the Provincial Government, and the Island would become the newest Marine Park, where there would be no logging or mining permitted, and public access was assured for future generations to visit and enjoy this piece of paradise.

Mary and Al enjoyed their life after leaving Jedediah, going on a world cruise on the Queen Mary, a cruise down the Amazon and going on a tour to China. She and Al were privileged to be invited to meet with Prince Charles and his boys, and were treated to a VIP lunch with Prince Charles, where all he wanted to talk about was their time on Jedediah.

When they were not travelling the globe or rubbing shoulders with royalty, Mary and Al were making their mark on every place they lived, from Fairwinds to the Penthouse at Cameron Island in Nanaimo, to the Wellesley in Victoria. Their free spirited approach to life and their zest for living lit up every room that they entered. Added to this mix was Mary’s need to get things done right! Like the time that she berated the strata council at Cameron Island because they hadn’t put up any Christmas decorations. She had them organized to meet in the activity room to get started on the decorations, when she remembered a previous commitment, so she left the group saying, “I’ve got to go, but don’t worry I’ve given you all that you need, you’ve got this!” Then there was her time at the Wellesley in Victoria. It had a roof top with a few straggly plants. Not on Mary’s watch. In no time she had the residents who liked gardening organized, money was raised, and a beautiful roof top garden was created for everyone’s enjoyment.

It was during their stay in Victoria that Al succumbed to the effects of a stroke that occurred while they were living in Nanaimo. Mary never left his side and cared for him until his passing. Their marriage vow “For better or worse, in sickness and in health” was not an idle promise in Mary’s world.

After Al’s death, Mary filled her days in Victoria volunteering at the BC Museum as a docent. We all jokingly said that, with her personality and knowledge, she was the attraction!

Eventually Mary moved back to Nanaimo and the tower at Cameron Island.

There she could be seen tooling around on her scooter, having breakfast with her friends at The Pantry, or scooting along the sea wall enjoying the sights making new friends along the way.

She so endeared herself to the wait staff at The Pantry, that, in her 99th year, they bought front row tickets for themselves and Mary at the Thunder Down Under show at Port Place!

For Mary’s 100th birthday celebration, family and friends met at The Pantry restaurant, where a section was cordoned off to seat her guests.

Mary wrote two books once she moved off Jedediah Island: Jedediah Days, a rendition of their time on the island, and the ABC’s of West Coast Gardening, a book dedicated to cultivating a successful west coast garden. The forward to the gardening book is a classic Mary/Al story, highlighting their love of nature and respect for life.

In the spring of 2021, after several falls, Mary accepted an offer to stay in the house on the Mann farm. There she received 24 hour care from an amazing group of ladies, dedicated to her well being. These ladies cared deeply for Mary and made sure that her days were as full as possible; taking her out for walks; scaring the local bear!; and just sitting outside enjoying the sunshine and the birds of course.

Mary celebrated 4 birthdays at the farm. She celebrated each birthday with excitement and her own brand of tact, “Still here, not going anywhere yet kid”! She lived out her remaining years, keeping us all on our toes, entertaining friends that came to visit with her usual aplomb, resting, feeding the birds, they were never fat enough, and then passing, as she wished, in her own bed with the birdsong out her window, surrounded by flowers given by friends and with loved ones nearby.

Mary and Al remained active travelers, social butterflies and very memorable characters right to their last days. The love they had for each other was beautiful to behold.

Mary knew and went for exactly what she wanted in life right to the end, showing those of us that cared for her, that indomitable spirit that fought for every second of joy and life she had. She was a caring, vivacious person, giving family and friends the help and support that they needed, bringing joy and life to whatever community she lived in. Her loud, laughing, loving presence bringing happiness to those around her. Her charm, wit, snappy come backs, and laughter will be sorely missed.

In lieu of condolences, we ask that you celebrate Mary’s life the way she did; go out, feed the birds, smell the flowers, eat the cake, smile and think of our Mary so loved and finally reunited with her Dearest Al ❤️

Safe passage Mary.