Gene L. Palmer

April 8, 1922 - Dec. 19, 2007
SOUTH BEND - Gene passed away peacefully on December 19, 2007, in Palo Alto, California. He was born in South Bend, Indiana, on April 8, 1922. The son of Frank and Helen Palmer of South Bend and the brother of Georgia Lou Simmons Greenwood of South Bend, he was the husband of Mary Maxine Bliler and the father of Stephen James Palmer and David Richard Palmer. He was also the husband of Mildred Enwright. He is survived by Stephen's wife, Wendy Jo Palmer of Angel's Camp, California; his youngest son, David of Santa Clara, California; his niece, Betsy Simmons Garner of Mishawaka; and numerous great-nieces and nephews.

Gene graduated from Riley High School in South Bend and DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, with a bachelor of arts degree, Phi Beta Kappa, with a major in economics and a minor in Spanish. He was a member of the Beta Theta Pi Fraternity.

He served in the U.S. Army in World War II which first sent him to Stanford University in Palo Alto to learn Italian to assist occupation troops, but the Army changed direction nine months later and sent him to India for a year as a teletype operator for the Signal Corps. He returned to South Bend after the war and helped his father with a new venture, the manufacture and sale of Red Rock Cola. "A good drink," Frank said, "but not enough people knew about it." So when the opportunity arose to buy a piece of the Pepsi-Cola franchise held by the bottler in Fort Wayne, Indiana, he and his father took it. They built their business for decades adding Canada Dry, Hires Root Beer and Dr. Pepper. Gene continued to run the business for several years after his father's death and subsequently sold it to a larger corporation.

Gene was an active member of the South Bend Rotary for decades and rarely missed a chance to man a red kettle for the Salvation Army at Christmas. He spent the first part of his retirement years playing golf at both the Morris Park Country Club in South Bend and at the Belleair Country Club in Belleair, Florida. In his later years, he continued to enjoy the good weather, the good golfing, and his good friends in Florida, but he always remained an avid fan of the Fighting Irish.

Funeral services will be held at 11:00 AM Saturday, Jan. 12, 2008, in the Palmer Funeral Home-River Park, 2528 Mishawaka Avenue, South Bend, IN, where friends may visit with the family one hour prior to services. Rev. Tina Velthuizen will officiate. Entombment will follow in Riverview Mausoleum, South Bend, IN. In lieu of flowers, contributions in memory of Gene L. Palmer may be made to St. Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church, 53720 N. Ironwood Road, South Bend, IN 46637.

Published by South Bend Tribune on Jan. 11, 2008.

07/19/2023 EJS

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