Gladys Marguerite Palmer

Gladys Marguerite Palmer of Little Rock died June 23, 2015. She was born November 11, 1918, at Pocahontas, Arkansas. The daughter of the late Drew and Gladys Bowers, she was preceded in death by her son, Robert Franklin Palmer Jr., and by her sister, Dorothy Elizabeth Bowers Abbott. She was a poet and freelance writer whose work appeared in McCall's, The Saturday Evening Post, The New York Times, The New York Herald Tribune, Farmland, the former Arkansas Gazette (now the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette), Parnassus Literary Journal, the North Little Rock Times, Lucidity, Kaleidograph Magazine and other publications. She was an active member of Poets' Roundtable of Arkansas and was selected Arkansas Poet of the Year in 1962. She was the organization's professional critic for more than a dozen years and won numerous poetry awards including the 1987 Sybil Nash Abrams Award in 1987. She is the author of two books of poetry, "Maps of Sun and Shadow" and "Searching for the Key." Mrs. Palmer was a graduate of Little Rock Junior College (now the University of Arkansas at Little Rock) and of Ouachita Baptist College (now Ouachita Baptist University); a member of St. Paul United Methodist Church, where she was a founding member of the Cheyney Discussion Class and served as the secretary for a time; and also was employed by the State of Arkansas and by the U.S. Selective Service System. She is survived by her daughter, Dorothy Lee Cox of Little Rock; her granddaughter, Augusta Lee Palmer of Brooklyn, New York, and Augusta's husband Chris Arnold; her granddaughter Misti Johnson of Saline County; her daughter-in-law, JoBeth Briton Palmer; a step-son, Craig Palmer, of Reston, Virginia; a step- daughter, Sherrill Taylor of Arlington, Virginia; and six great-grandchildren. Visitation will be Thursday, June 25, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Griffin Leggett Healey & Roth. Funeral services will be Friday at 10:00 a.m. in the chapel of Griffin Leggett Healey & Roth. Memorials may be made to St. Paul United Methodist Church, the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, part of the Central Arkansas Library System; or the Robert F. Palmer Jr. Memorial Fund at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Online guestbook is available at www.griffinleggetthealeyroth.com.