Mary Caroline Palmatary
Mary Palmatary and the ladies she quilted with raised more than $20,000 for church missions over 20 years. They quilted at Mrs. Palmatary's house on Saturdays and at their church on Thursdays.
Mary C. Palmatary of Columbia died Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011. She was 92.
She was born Aug. 23, 1919, in Randolph County to John Frederick and Hannah Gutekunst. She married Glenn H. Palmatary in July 1940.
Mrs. Palmatary was a graduate of Moberly High School and Moberly Junior College. She graduated from MU with a degree in education.
She was a member of the Missouri United Methodist Church, Susanna Circle of MUMC, P.E.O Chapter HK, the Boone Hospital Foundation and Mizzou Alumni. Mrs. Palmatary enjoyed spending time with friends and family, music, teaching, traveling, quilting and volunteering at Boone Hospital Center.
Beverly Palmatary said her mother was a high school librarian at Unionville High School in Putnam County and enjoyed her students. Mrs. Palmatary even played the organ at the wedding of two of her students, Ron and Donna Snyder.
"She was just always very helpful and always had a big smile," Ron Snyder said. "Just a great lady." He said he considers Mrs. Palmatary a very important woman in his and his wife's lives.
Lauren Young remembers her great-aunt as a tough woman who survived breast and lung cancer. Young used to go to church with Mrs. Palmatary every Sunday and then to lunch at Olive Garden with her great-aunt's friends.
After some time abroad, Young brought back fabric from Croatia for her great-aunt since she knew how much she loved to quilt. When Young graduated from MU, Mrs. Palmatary turned that Croatian fabric into a quilt as a graduation present. Young said her great-aunt did the whole quilt by hand and stayed up an entire night to finish it on time.
Mrs. Palmatary's daughter said she was a very active lady up until the final six months of her life. She wrote her own obituary, and had a list of music and Scriptures for her family to chose from for the funeral. "She was a very organized lady," Beverly Palmatary said.
Mrs. Palmatary is survived by a son, G. Carroll Palmatary and his wife, Mari Ane Barber, of St. Simons Island, Ga.; a daughter, Beverly Palmatary of Columbia; a sister, Marguerite Young and her husband, Vilas, of Maryville; a granddaughter, Kelly Reber; two great-granddaughters, Sarah and Delaney Negron, both of Florida; and many nieces, nephews and cousins.
Her husband, Glenn H. Palmatary, died in September 1987.
A visitation followed by a funeral was held Friday at Memorial Funeral Home. She was buried in Memorial Park Cemetery.
Memorial contributions can be made to Missouri United Methodist Church, 204 S. Ninth St., Columbia, MO, 65201; Cottey College P.E.O Educational Loan Fund, 1000 W. Austin Blvd., Nevada, MO, 64772; or Boone Hospital Foundation, 1600 E. Broadway, Columbia, MO, 65201.
