Tribute to Jim Palmer (passed
away Dec. 04, 2002 6:02 PM PST) 
(A short letter containing what was in my heart concerning James Palmer's passing) Sincerely, Gaylord J. Brown, Klamath Falls, Oregon December 5, 2002 I met Jim Palmer at our Headgate protest in the summer of 2001. Although a Viet Nam veteran Jim always believed our stand should be nonviolent, and along with others, he helped keep it so. Jim was a stickler for detail, and would analyze each situation and come up with sound judgment and offer an opinion that showed common sense and leadership. Jim and Mary attended many meetings and worked hard to get the word out to America and the world that what was happening in the Klamath Basin was wrong. Jim attended the board meetings when the Science Academy met in Sacramento and his letters and comments were accepted and respected and I'm sure influenced their final opinion. Jim never asked a frivolous question, or made a shallow statement to any official at these meetings. He always offered a profound statement spoken with a strong voice that conveyed knowledge and tenacity. Jim told me more then once that our Country needs to get back to basics. God, Country and family will save us and I believe he is correct. My friend, James Palmer, Jr., passed away last night at 6:02 PM PST, leaving a wife and children and many friends with a deep sense of lose. I thank God I was there and was able to tell him what his friendship meant to myself and my family. (Note from Julie: Every person who met Jim Palmer was touched by him. He had been through Hell in Vietnam, and his own life was not lived in the lap of luxury, but he always had the loving kindness to reach out in caring to others. When the Klamath Falls protests brought people from all over America to his part of Oregon, Jim and his wife, Mary, took under their own roof new friends from Idaho and distant Maryland, helping other working folks save the cost of motel rooms while helping Klamath Basin farmers in their stand at the "A" Canal Headgates Camp. I never heard Jim utter an unkind word or saw him do other than thoughtful, kind and honorable things to help his neighbors and the land that he so loved. The friendship that Jim and Mary extended to me while Wiggles and I were in the Basin followed us home. True to his word, he sent photos of him and Mary, daughter Patty and their beloved farm, both in better times and in the drought and orchestrated crisis of 2001. Words will never express fully, what is in the hearts of his friends and family as we miss him dearly. Dear God, thank you for loaning us your special angel, Jim Palmer, long enough that we could know his total faith in you and be strengthened and uplifted by that faith. We are better for having known him!) When I came to Klamath Falls in the summer of 2001 I came looking for the one man who had asked me to come to the Headgates to support the farmers and ranchers who were facing a perilous situation. When I showed up the first day two of the first people I met were Jim and Mary Palmer. I noticed Jim's Viet Nam cap and knew he was a vet. And in the time I spent with him he never mentioned his service. He never spoke of feeling like anyone owed him anything. He faced his hardship with a determined attitude and a quick sense of humor. During the first few days I was there the press was having fits trying to get the lay of the land and it was Jim and Mary who asked myself and Bill Jasper of The New American if we'd like a tour of the lake and its surrounding regions. We readily accepted and during that tour Jim pointed out many important facts about the region and how obvious it was that the lake was full and there was no crisis other than that perpetuated by the greed of the environmentalists. It was in these brief moments when Jim reflected on the wrongs caused by the greens and their hamfisted and nonstop efforts to rob the people of the basin of their deeded water rights that I saw him show the soft side that we all have. He cared. Over the course of the time I was there I was privileged to go to Jim and Mary's beautiful home on the Lost River where they had every type of critter you could imagine. And everyone they encountered when they showed me the place was given the affection that few children are shown. As the crisis boiled to a head tempers flared and frustration rose to a head but through it all I never saw Jim lose his cool. He was a man who had seen the worst a human being could see in Viet Nam and had once again rose to a challenge in his own back yard. Although the enemy this time was his own government he didn't flinch. Always the soldier. That's the way I'll always remember Jim. He was always the first to call me over when I showed up at the Headgates in the morning and he was usually the last when I left at night. And in between his van was never idle in the parking lot. There many thankless tasks to be done and egos were in short supply. I can't begin to reflect on the life of a man who I only spent a few weeks with in Klamath Falls but I can tell you this. The time I spent with Jim and Mary Palmer has made me a better person. And the friendships I made with the fine people there will never fade in my memory. I said it when I left and I'm saying it now: I left a big chunk of my heart at those Headgates. God bless you and keep you Jim and extend his blessings and mercy to you Mary in your time of grief. I'll leave you with the words of an Emmylou Harris song: When I go don't cry for me |