Mary Ann Palmer

Mary Ann Palmer, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, and great grandmother passed quietly in her sleep at the age of 86 following a brief illness on Dec. 31, 2017, at her home in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She was born in Springfield, Missouri, on Feb. 6, 1931, the third of four children born to the late Ray and Hazel Sawtelle.

Mary Ann (as she was known to her family) graduated from Springfield High School in 1947. After graduation she attended Southwest Missouri State University (now Missouri State University) before moving to Wichita, Kansas in 1949 to join her sister, Helen, in working for the Boeing Company. While working for Boeing she met a handsome, young WWII Navy veteran, John Palmer. In 1951 Mary Ann and John married in Wichita. In those early years of marriage John and Mary Ann traveled to the Canadian Rockies and to Colorado. Those early visits to Colorado ignited a life-long love of Colorado and its mountains.

In 1955 the young couple welcomed their first child, Scott, followed in 1958 by a daughter, Traci. They started their family while living in the Wichita area but in a dream fulfilled the family relocated to suburban Denver in 1961 and began a life in Colorado. In Colorado the family enjoyed camping, jeep rides, and cheering for that new team, the Broncos. A particular favorite activity was sunrise breakfast picnics along the Rampart Range. In 1967 following the end of a government contract John left the Martin Company (today’s Lockheed/Martin Waterton Canyon complex) and returned to Wichita and Boeing.

Now in Wichita, with the children growing up, Mary Ann began to work outside the home in the banking industry. After completing their careers in 1993, John and Mary Ann retired to come back “home” to Colorado eventually settling in Grand Junction. In 2013 they relocated again, this time to Colorado Springs to be closer to their children.

She is survived by her “sweetheart forever” husband of 66 years, John Palmer, loving children, Scott (Faye), and Traci, both of Colorado Springs, grandsons, Ray (Melanie) Palmer, of Fayetteville, Arkansas, Carl Palmer, of Brooklyn, New York, and Brian Keimig, of Colorado Springs, and after all the grandsons, a great grand-daughter, Elise Palmer, of Fayetteville, Arkansas. She is also survived by two sisters, Helen McDaniel and Gladys Dougherty, both of Hunstville, Alabama.

She was greatly loved and will be greatly missed by her family.