Biography: Elizabeth Smith Palmer, age 92, wife of Colonel W.K. Palmer, died on Tuesday, July 3, 2007. She was the daughter of the late Richard Hansel Smith and the late Ella Jones Smith and was the great granddaughter of Arkansas pioneers Dr. and Mrs. Isaac Newton Jones of Old Washington, Arkansas. She was married for over 67 years to Col. W.K. Palmer who survives her. A native of Corsicana, Texas, she was educated in the public schools of Corsicana and was a summa magna cum laude graduate of Texas State College for Women, now Texas Woman’s University, in Denton, Texas, where she received a Bachelor of Science degree in Speech and a permanent teacher’s certification for all grades. She was a member of National Collegiate Players, Alpha Lambda Delta and Alpha Chi honorary societies. She was active in student government, president of her senior class and was named to Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities for her junior and senior years and was named Who’s Who in the Department of Speech her senior year. In 1939, she married W.K. Palmer and moved to Bakersfield, California, where Mr. Palmer was employed by the United States Department of Agriculture, Cotton Division. He was called to active duty as First Lieutenant in the Army Air Force in 1941, six months before the United States entered World War II. Education always played an important part in her life. She periodically took college courses and Bible courses throughout her life into her eighties. Her primary career interest was Early Childhood Education. She founded and directed a day school in the Oakwood United Methodist Church in Lubbock, Texas, where the family lived for 18 years. The family moved to Little Rock in 1977, after Mr. Palmer’s retirement from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and his retirement as Colonel in the United States Air Force Reserve. Mrs. Palmer was a former member of Bible Study Fellowship, “Read it Again” Bible study group, and was a member of American Association of Retired Persons Chapters #3053 and #34, Texas Woman’s University Alumnae Association, Gilbert Marshall Chapter of the National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution, the Association of Pulaski County Arkansas Pioneers, and Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church where she was a life member of the Board of Stewards and an active member of United Methodist Women. Mrs. Palmer served as president of the Butler Sunday School Class and was an active member of the caring ministries of the church, serving as a Shepherd and member of the Society of St. Stephen. She was the first secretary and served many years in the ministry to homebound members. On an individual basis, she visited and assisted members who were ill and those who were unable to attend church on a regular basis. She loved the study of history, geography, and genealogy and over the years helped family members trace their genealogy to her maternal great grandparents, Elizabeth Wilson, Littlejohn Jones and Dr. Isaac Newton Jones of Old Washington, the Civil War Capital of Arkansas. She and Colonel Palmer traveled extensively for several years in England, Europe, Canada, Mexico and all of the United States expect Alaska. The highlight of their travel was a supersonic Concorde flight from Little Rock to London, England, and the five day transatlantic crossing to the United States aboard the famous Queen Elizabeth II ocean liner. Mrs. Palmer is survived by her husband, one son, Robert William Palmer, two grandsons, William Jeffrey Palmer, M.D., and his wife Amy of Little Rock, Arkansas, and Justin William Palmer of Boston, Massachusetts, one great granddaughter, Emma Eileen Palmer, and twin great grandsons, William Jeffrey Palmer, Jr. and Nathaniel Miller Palmer. A gathering in memory of Elizabeth Palmer will be at 10:00 a.m., Saturday, July 7, 2007 at Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church with Reverend Vic Nixon presiding. There will be no visitation. Private family committal services at the Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church Columbarium will precede the memorial church service. Memorials may be made to Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church Foundation, 4823 Woodlawn, Little Rock, Arkansas, 72205. Arrangements are made by Ruebel Funeral Home, 6313 West Markham (501-666-0123). To visit online guest book, go to www.reubelfuneralhome.com.