Fred Eugene Palmer

Fred Eugene Palmer, 88, of Baker City, Oregon passed away at home on March 6, 2017, from complications of prostate cancer and advancing age. Coles Tribute Center has been entrusted with the arrangements.

Fred was born in Portland in 1928 to Lowell (Elt) and Eugenia Palmer. They lived in Sandy, Oregon where Fred's father was a teacher at the two room Cottrell School. In 1936 Fred, his parents, and two younger sisters Patricia and Janis moved to Baker City, where Elt had secured a teaching position in the high school. He also served as the school wrestling coach. This was deep in the Great Depression and Fred had vivid memories of tough times and cold winters endured without adequate clothing.

In 1946 Fred graduated from Baker High School. With an eye on getting college support from the G.I. bill, Fred joined the Navy and served in California for two years. He then attended Reed College and graduated with a degree in Sociology. He married his first wife Ruth (Betty) Belsey in 1950. After graduation Fred and Betty moved to Tulare County, California, where they were social services caseworkers. Two years of this was all they could tolerate, and after extensive shoestring travel in Europe, Fred entered Oregon State as a Microbiology major. He earned his degree and then attended Scripps Institute of Oceanography as a PhD candidate in Marine Microbiology. After earning his Master's degree he had a disagreement with his major professor and left Scripps for a research position at the University of Washington in 1960.

Fred met his current wife, then Linda Graves, when they were both working at the university. They became friends while joining many anti-Vietnam war protests. They married in 1976, became parents to their son Michael in 1983, and moved to Baker City in 1984. This began what Fred considered the happiest period of his life: raising a young son, building a log home with his wife, and living a rural life. Fred enjoyed farming alfalfa in the summers and doing field work for the UW as a research scientist in the winters until he retired.

The most intensely important thing in Fred's life was his family. But he was also a man with many diverse interests and an enduring curiosity about all things. He was passionate about the outdoors, spending eight college summers as a Forest Service fire lookout in the mountains around Baker. Five of those summers were spent on Mt. Ireland, for which he felt a spiritual attachment. Fred's father's family were Jordan Valley ranchers and Fred visited there throughout his life, and especially enjoyed exploring the upper Owyhee canyon lands. Other major interests included a lifelong enthusiasm for photography, flying small airplanes, progressive politics, and reading books of every conceivable type and subject. Fred loved animals almost as much as his family, and in fact considered his dogs, cats and horses important family members.

Fred was preceded in death by his parents, Elt and Eugenia Palmer and his nephew Michael Fox.

He is survived by his wife Linda, his son and daughter-in-law Michael and Nicole, his new grandson Felix, and his sisters Patricia Carmony and Janis Taylor; and also by his nieces Diane Carmony, Debra Kadiyala, Shelley Fox-Loken and Kim Lauterbach.

At Fred's request there will be no services.