THEY HAD A BALL ! - Town of Walpole

Ron Palmer dies after short illness
Another of Walpole’s originals, Ron Palmer, died on
May 16th after a short illness.
Ron was one of five Palmer children who were born and
grew up in the early days of Walpole.
Their parents were among the families brought here in
the Walpole Land Settlement Scheme in 1931 and they
had a farm just north of the town site.
Ron’s siblings were sisters June and Betty and brothers
Jimmy and Tommy. June and Jimmy have died and now
only Betty (now Graham) and Tommy, are still alive.
Ron was born at the old Nornalup Hospital on January
26 th 1937 and went to the Walpole Number 1 School.
He told a story of a time in his teens when he went to
Perth and worked for a circus, dreaming of travelling
with it round the world. The dream ended when police
came to the circus after some thefts had taken place and
told the young man he’d be better off moving somewhere
else away from the gang of criminals he was
unknowingly mixing with.
Fortunately his sister Betty was living in Perth, so Ron
had somewhere to go and later he worked for a time on a
farm in the wheatbelt.
Back in Walpole he took a fancy to Gwenda Underhill,
but she didn’t return the interest and Ron turned his
attention instead to her twin sister Betty. They had
known each other for years and Betty recalls a time when
Ron threw her rubber boots in a creek and offered to give
her a dink on his bike. She quickly told him where to get
off.
Later when she was working at Tinglewood Lodge, he
pestered her with phone calls and she finally allowed
him to come and visit her there – provided he brought
her a packet of cigarettes.
The relationship blossomed and they were engaged for
three years before they married at the Church of England
church in Walpole in July 1958. They leased a block
from Les Chatley and saved for three years to buy it,
living there for 19 years and having five children:
Dianne, Karen, Leonie, Graham and Rose.
For some years they ran dairy cows and then beef cattle.
GOLDEN WATTLE CAFÉ
Please be advised that owning to the
funeral of our dear Uncle Ron
Palmer, the Golden Wattle Café will
be closed from 3 pm Saturday 26th
May, 2007. The service station will
remain open 7 am to 6pm.
Ron also worked for a firm of log hauling contractors at
the local mill. For a while he drove his own truck for
them, then worked on a bulldozer loading trucks, which
included his own with someone else paid to drive it. For
a time he did an extra shift as night watchman.
The family were all keen on boating and fishing, even
though Betty and some of the children couldn’t swim. In
the early days they had a strange little boat which
needed a magneto to start its “putt putt” engine. It also
leaked and the children had to bail it out at the start of
every trip. Everyone else was out on the water and
started fishing by the time the Palmers got there. Later
they graduated to bigger and better boats.
Ron and Betty retired in the 90s and moved to a house in
Walpole Street. They both played golf for many years
but became keen caravaners, travelling all round
Australia and spending three months each year at
Carnarvon.
Six months ago, to his surprise, Ron was diagnosed
with lung cancer after being examined for a cough he
had developed.
He was never really sick and died peacefully, having had
a good night’s sleep the night before.
He was grandfather of 14 and great grandfather of 11.
RON PALMER
Passed away peacefully on the
16th May 2007. A celebration of
his life will be held on the 26th of
May at 11 am at the Tree Top
Motel followed by a private,
invitation-only internment.
WALPOLE
WINDOW
CLEANING
SERVICE
Residential—Commercial
Tel: Neil Borwick 98401381
Walpole Weekly May 23rd 2007 — 3