Elsie Palmer, 110, remembered as 'saint-filled'

By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

SLEEPY EYE -- One of Minnesota's oldest residents died Monday at Divine Providence Community Home.

Elsie Palmer, 110, originally of Fairfax, was just under two months short of her 111th birthday.

Divine Providence Activity Assistant Rae Mudick of Sleepy Eye said she was a devoutly religious woman who will be missed by everybody that knew her.

"She was saint-filled," Mudick said. "When one of our residents was near death, she would take her rosary to them and let them keep it until they died."

Palmer attended daily mass at the nursing home. She recited the rosary and sang at daily services.

Elsie moved to the nursing home at age 99. She continued to enjoy reading through her later years.

The eighth of 14 children, she was born to Joseph and Hannah Biebl, who homesteaded the family farm near St. George. Palmer's nephew Davis Biebl still raises corn and soybeans on the family farm.

Longevity is a Biebl attribute. Two of her sisters reached age 102. Other siblings lived into their 90s.

Like her sisters, Elsie studied and lived at the New Ulm convent and Catholic school before she was confirmed at age 12. She was a live-in housemaid and seamstress before she married World War I veteran and the late Otto Palmer at age 32 in 1928.

The couple moved to Detroit where he worked for a truck hoist company until The Great Depression drew them back home to Fairfax. Otto worked as a janitor at St. Andrew's Catholic Church and at the church school.

Elsie was known in Fairfax for her homemade apple pies. She enjoyed pies and other sweets but never smoked, drank alcohol or drove a motor vehicle.

Last January, Palmer's daughter Mary and her husband Jim of Thousand Oaks, Calif. were among 40 relatives and friends who helped her celebrate her 110th birthday at Divine Providence.

(Fritz Busch can be reached at fbusch@nujournal.com).