Funeral homes often submit obituaries as a service to the families they are assisting. However, we will be happy to accept obituaries from family members pending proper verification of the death.
David Michael Palmer, a resident of The Dalles, Oregon died at home Tuesday, September 2, 2014 of kidney disease.
David was born on July 15, 1966 in The Dalles, Oregon to parents, Phyllis Palmer Betschart, and his deceased father, Robert Palmer. He attended local schools, graduating from The Dalles High School in 1984.
David was a boy, and later a man who enjoyed tinkering with cars, and tractors. You might say that rather than being born with a silver spoon, he waved a wrench instead. At the age of five his grandfather gave him his first antique tractor, and it wasn’t uncommon to see him sitting on the seat of a tractor driving in the Cherry Festival or Fort Dalles parade. David’s three favorite places to visit were Fort Stevens, Oregon; Brooks, Oregon for the annual tractor show, and he held fond memories of his time spent in Hawaii.
People generally say that health is the greatest gift one can have, but David was one of many people who struggled feeling well enough to experience the ordinary parts of life, such as steady employment or waking up in the morning and knowing he had choices of doing anything he might choose. Instead, David’s life was filled with coping with kidney disease which required him to be hooked up to a kidney dialysis machine for hours at a time.
David was highly intelligent, spending hours reading about military history, and even volunteering two years in the Civil War enactment. He grew to love cooking for his kids, surfing the internet and TV cooking channels for recipes. He enjoyed listening to the Beatles, AC/DC and the Mama & Papas.
David was preceded in death by his father, Robert Palmer in 1982.
He is survived by his mother, Phyllis Betschart and stepfather, Ronald Betschart; two sons, Matthew and Christopher Palmer, and daughter Katie.
At his request, a private memorial will take place on Friday, September 5, 2014
Memorial donations can be made to The National Kidney Foundation.
To plant a tree in memory of David Palmer as a living tribute, please visit Tribute Store.
