Earl Palmer (1931-2023)

Rosie Perera
Rosie Perera Member Posts: 26,194 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited November 2024 in English Forum

I heard through Facebook and an email from Earl Palmer Ministries that Earl died today at age 91 after a short battle with cancer.

Earl was my pastor at University Presbyterian Church in Seattle during the 90s and beyond, and he had a huge influence on my life. He and his wife Shirley befriended me, mentored me, invited me into their lives, and included me in events with their family. Earl helped me at key points in my faith journey. It was in part because he had taught summer school classes at Regent College that I ended up studying there, and he wrote my recommendation for for my application. I will miss him profoundly. There was so much more I wish I'd asked him or said to him. (NB: If you ever get word of what could be a terminal diagnosis of a friend, do NOT put off writing that planned letter you wanted to send. A month of delay and it might be too late. 😢 )

Earl's close friend and collaborator Dick Staub wrote: "Earl has now begun the great adventure for which his entire earth-bound life was the prelude. I am comforted by the last words of the Narnia series which I discussed often with Earl. 'For us this is the end of all the stories....But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world had only been the cover and the title page: Now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on earth has read, which goes on forever and in which every chapter is better than the one before.'"

Farewell, Earl. See you on the other side.

Photos (c) Rosie Perera. Permission to use with credit given.

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