Raymond H. Palmer; School District Employee

Raymond H. Palmer--cat lover, carpenter and 40-year Ventura resident--died Friday at Community Memorial Hospital after suffering a stroke. He was 83.

Palmer was born Jan. 11, 1913, in Garger, Iowa. He married Hazel Gottschalk in Manchester, Iowa, on Aug. 22, 1935, and the couple soon moved to Ojai, where they worked for Villanova School.

During World War II, Palmer served in the Army, first with the 651st Tank Destroyer’s Battalion and then with the military police in the 4904th Service Command Unit.

After the war, the couple moved to Clayton County, Iowa, where he was employed as a laborer for an interior decorator and then as a school district maintenance worker and bus driver. The couple moved to Ventura in 1956. Palmer retired from the Ventura Unified School District after 20 years as a maintenance worker and glazier.

A member of Trinity Lutheran Church in Ventura, Palmer volunteered with the Food Share program and remained active in retirement by gardening, carving and doing carpentry.

He took pleasure making intricately carved toys and furniture for his grandchildren, including a life-size backyard playhouse. He also raised trees from seeds that he donated to various parks, including a young grove at then-barren Lake Casitas when it was being developed in the 1950s.

Palmer held a special affection for cats and had a succession of long-lived felines, said his daughter, Noel Palmer of Louisville, Ky.

Mocha, his Himalayan, seems a little lost without him, she said.

“We always joked about Mocha and we weren’t always sure whether Dad was on Mocha’s schedule or Mocha was on Dad’s schedule, but they pretty much did everything together,” Palmer said.

In addition to his wife and daughter, he is survived by his son, Stephen Palmer Sr. of Ventura, five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Friday at Trinity Lutheran Church, with Pastor David Hall officiating.

Memorial contributions may be made to the preschool at Trinity Lutheran Church preschool.

Arrangements are under the direction of Ted Mayr Funeral Home, Ventura.