Northeast Texan celebrates 100 years of life

• Merle Palmer turned 100 years old on June 25th TRIBUNE PHOTO / NICOLE KIMBALL
• Northeast Texan celebrates 100 years of life
• Northeast Texan celebrates 100 years of life
• Northeast Texan celebrates 100 years of life
• Northeast Texan celebrates 100 years of life
• Northeast Texan celebrates 100 years of life
• Northeast Texan celebrates 100 years of life
• Northeast Texan celebrates 100 years of life
• Northeast Texan celebrates 100 years of life

On Saturday, June 22nd, at the Pleasant Springs Nursing Home in Mount Pleasant, joy was in the air as friends and family gathered. Five generations within a family excitedly chattered, waiting to take pictures, sing a very special birthday song, and cut the cake for a soon-to-be centenarian.

Merle Palmer is a native of Bogata and one of 13 children. Saturday was an early celebration, as she was born June 25, 1924.

Her son, Malcolm Dale Palmer, and his wife, Torie, both live in Longview. However, they visit Mount Pleasant often to see Merle as much as they can. Malcolm spoke with pride about growing up with Merle as his mother, “She was a homemaker. Being at home with her, there was never any doubt about being loved. We weren’t wealthy by any means, but we were secure and had everything we needed. She was always loving and concerned.”

Malcolm and Torie recalled with nostalgic smiles how they met in the fall of 1975 through bowling and were married in 1976. Torie talked about her experiences coming into the Palmer family and her first impression of her mother-in-law, “She was always a very special lady. She always made me feel like a daughter and I love her very much.”

Merle told the Tribune that she spent a lot of her time cooking. She said it’s her favorite thing to do and she loved feeding her siblings, her husband, her children, and her grandchildren.

“I love to cook,” Merle said. “So many children, so I had to cook. But making pies was my favorite, chocolate pie especially. I made the crust and everything.”

Her granddaughter, Ashley Palmer Sutton, is the oldest of three. She fondly recalled spending summers at her grandmother’s house, “I loved spending the summers over there. She was very, very good with babies– still is to this day. I think I get that trait from her.”

Ashley went on to say that Merle was such a great role model that in third grade, she said she wanted to be a grandmother when she grew up. Ashley has seven children herself and five grandchildren. She also gushed about how wonderful her grandmother’s cooking always was.