Tributes from those who love Bill
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William Alvin Palmer (Bill) was many things in life—a son, brother, husband, father, and friend.
He was a sailor, a fiber optics technician, and a mechanical/electrical magician. And though he managed success at many levels, Bill was a reluctant academician.
When Bill Palmer was born, he came into a family that already had two precious, precocious daughters. Unlike his sisters, from a very early age Bill did NOT seem to be interested in learning about how to read or how to perform well in kindergarten or school.
Bill could do the numbers and excelled in math, but reading and writing were not his strengths or interests.
Bill loved wheels and learning about what makes things move—from his walker (which, as a small child, he’d use to propel himself) to his bike to his car and later to his ship on the high seas.
After years of struggling as a student, Bill graduated from high school and joined the navy (working on the USS Enterprise 4 years). He traveled the world, and he was trained in electronics—particularly the video recording—on the ship.
He loved to work on things, particularly pulling apart cars and appliances, and then later in the navy, he perfected his skills in electronics. He was a Technical Trainer for Cox Cable in Baton Rouge. He was comfortable out in the field working and he loved to teach. Bill was one of the first technicians to put in fiber optic cable in Baton Rouge.
At age 41, Bill suddenly died in his sleep of a heart attack.
By then, he was the father of Casey (8 yrs) and Blake (3 yrs) and Caleb (not yet born when Bill passed away).
It was a pleasure to be Bill’s mother. And it was a pleasure to have the opportunity to teach him. He learned that discipline comes in different forms, not just discipline to behave, but discipline to learn.
Bill Palmer was a reluctant academician with an unquenchable thirst to learn.
Bill and his nephew Angus Moloney were so much alike. They were both unconventional academicians and both remarkable inventors, learners, and teachers.
