Feb. 8, 1931 – Feb 1, 2019

California native and longtime Glendale resident Keith C. Palmer passed away on Feb. 1. Keith was born in Long Beach on Feb. 8, 1931. His parents, Floyd Palmer and June Gardiner, married in Iowa and moved to Long Beach in 1928. After they divorced his mother and his aunt Bertha raised him.

They moved to Sunland-Tujunga where he spent his childhood. He attended Pinewood Elementary School and Verdugo Hills High School. Keith sang bass in the school choir and was their top tennis player. After high school, Keith attended Glendale Community College where he majored in radio production and theater arts.

Keith joined the Navy in 1950. He attended boot camp in San Diego then to San Francisco for training. After training, he shipped out aboard the troop transport Harold Brewster to Sasebo, Japan and boarded the U.S.S. Dixie, a destroyer tender.  He spent eight months of each year from 1950-1953 in Japan and the remainder in San Diego. 

When Aunt Bertha passed away he moved to shore duty at Point Mugu Air Missile Test Center, where he worked as a heavy equipment operator, and Santa Cruz Island, where he worked as master at arms. He received an honorable discharge from the Navy in 1955.

After the Navy, he mowed lawns at Forest Lawn, delivered refrigerators and freezers and dug sewer lines in the Glendale hills. He was a stock clerk at Lockheed where his mother was an electrical solderer. His mother set him up on a blind date with a “very sweet girl.” That sweet girl was Nadine Sanders. He knew she was the one for him. They married in March 1956. They lived on Wilson in Glendale when their daughter Cynthia was born. They moved to Windsor Road where daughter Doreen was born. They moved to Mission Hills in 1963 where son Richard was born in 1966. They moved to the Sparr Heights area of the Crescenta Valley in 1971. After 50 years of marriage, he sadly said farewell to his beloved wife in 2006 as she left the family for heaven.

Keith was laid off from Lockheed in 1958 during the Eisenhower recession and took a job with the City of Glendale as a parking meter collector. During this time, he also attended San Fernando Valley State College (now CSUN) where he graduated with his B.A. He began his career in the City of Glendale Planning Dept. in 1963. He retired in 1993 as senior planner. His accomplishments as a planner included writing several community plans and all general plan elements, chairing the South Glendale task force and the 1990 Census Committee. After retirement he was an active member of VFW 1614 in La Crescenta. He also served as canteen manager of the VFW for several years.

He was an active member of the Crescenta Valley Sports Assn., serving as coach, manager, league supervisor, baseball field manager and member of the board of directors. He was also active in Toastmasters, serving as president of the La Crescenta Chapter and co-founding the Glendale City Employees Chapter. He was also co-founder of the Sparr Heights Neighborhood Assn.

Keith loved to fish and took his family on yearly trips to fish the streams of the Sierra. He was an avid bowler, participating in bowling leagues all his adult life, often more than once a week. Keith was well known and loved at Jewel City Bowl and Verdugo Hills Bowl. He also had a passion for cribbage and spent many hours meeting new people while playing cribbage online. Keith was a good friend and much-loved by all.

He is survived by three children: Cynthia Carr, Doreen Sherman and Richard Palmer; and two grandchildren Kaytee Carr and Kristie Sherman. Keith also had many adopted children who are still loved and cherished as family.

In lieu of flowers please make donations to Wounded Warrior Project in honor of Keith C Palmer.

Directors Crippenmortuary.com