Craig Oren Palmer

Funeral services for Craig O. Palmer, age 53, will be held at 2:00 PM on Thursday, August 26, 2010 at the First Baptist Church of Cushing. Interment will follow at Euchee Valley Memorial Park. Public viewing will be held from 12 PM to 8 PM on Wednesday, August 25, 2010 at Palmer Marler Funeral Home, Cushing, OK. Services have been entrusted to the joint care of the Palmer-Marler Funeral Home of Cushing and Hart Funeral Home of Tahlequah.
If Craig Palmer were to have written his obituary, it would simply read, This was Craig Palmer. He tried real hard, and he had a good time. He left it to a friend to write this for him, so there is a bit more to say.
Craig O. Palmer was born in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania on August 2, 1957, the son of Ivan S. Palmer and Elois (Bailey) Palmer. He grew up in Brookings, SD, graduating from Brookings High School in 1975. Craig attended Bartlesville Wesleyan College in Bartlesville, OK before graduating from the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond with his Bachelors of Science. While in Edmond, Craig was lucky enough to meet a girl that would put up with him, and on April 13, 1979 he and Dora Kay Boman were married in Fayetteville, AR. Their marriage was blessed with two children, Jeremy and Yvette. For over 30 years, Craig earned his living as a funeral director, serving families with remarkable compassion. He had an easygoing nature that was impossible to resist, and this rare gift allowed him to gently guide families through their time of grief. Craig served as funeral director in Edmond, OK and Cushing, OK for many years before settling in Tahlequah, OK. While living in Cushing, Craig was an active member of the First Baptist Church and helped announce the high school football games. He was a Past President of the Cushing Rotary Club where he helped with the Rotary Park, Rotary Radio Auction, and the Cushing Rodeo.
Craig had a love of music, and played trombone with a German polka band while living in Cushing. He liked to whistle, and was notorious for whistling Silver Bells in the heat of the summer. Craig was gifted with a wicked sense of humor and a highly contagious laugh. While he was always the first to imagine the worst possible outcome of any given situation, he was also the first to see the humor in those same situations.
Craig would be the first to tell you he was no saint. He was compulsive, he worked too much, and he was flawed, and human. He would be mortified to know that I would tell the world at large that he was a fiercely loyal friend, and had the unique ability to listen and offer insight without passing judgment. Though not one to get sentimental, Craigs family and close friends never had cause to question his love. He was quietly proud of his son and daughter, and lived for the chance to spend a weekend being Papa to his grandsons.
Craig O. Palmer passed away Saturday evening, August 21, 2010, with his wife of over 30 years at his side. He was 53 years old. He was preceded in death by his mother, Eloise Palmer.
Craig is survived by his wife, Kay Palmer, of the home; his son, Jeremy Palmer, of Oklahoma City, OK; by his daughter, Yvette Norman and husband Josh and their children, Dakota and Tyler, of Cushing, OK; by his father, Ivan Palmer and wife Susan of Brookings, SD; by his siblings, Jannelle Fulsaas and husband Jerome of Decorah, IA, Bruce Palmer and wife Karla of Waseca, MN, Michelle Hardin of Des Moines, IA, William Hardin and wife Christie of Brookings, SD, Joseph Hardin and wife Dawn of Brookings, SD and Margaret Stewart and husband Carroll; as well as many other family members. He is also survived by many more friends and loved ones than he would have guessed.