Eric Ray Palmer

Our beloved husband, father, son, brother, uncle and friend, Eric Ray Palmer, 40, died on April 20, 2022.
Eric was born May 15, 1981 in American Fork, Utah and was raised by his mother and adoptive father, Mary and Gordon Palmer, in Blanding, Utah as the oldest in a family of five children. Eric learned to work hard as a youth, but there also was time for fun and occasional mischief with his group of close friends, reading voraciously, playing “Church” basketball incessantly, and acting in high school plays. In one play, he got so deeply into his role as a grandfather that he shaved the top of his head and dyed the sides of his hair grey. That devotion to his thespian craft earned Eric the added benefit of being the only kid who was allowed to wear a hat to school (at least until his hair grew in). Eric valued his Blanding friendships his entire life.
Following graduation from San Juan High School, Eric served an LDS mission to Mississippi where he acquired his life-long love of “Southern” food, although he admitted that he never really acquired a taste for the possums and squirrels he sometimes was served as a missionary. After returning home, he married (eventually having three children) and then moved to Colorado to attend culinary school. Although after a while in culinary school Eric decided that cooking as a hobby suited him better than cooking professionally, he remained a talented and enthusiastic cook the rest of his life, to the great gastronomic benefit of his family and friends. Eric was absolutely fearless in the kitchen and his experimenting never failed to make any recipe he tried tastier. We will miss his jambalaya and gumbo. Even now as we turn the corner into his kitchen, we expect to see Eric standing near his professional stove dicing, mixing, cooking and tasting.
After culinary school, Eric and his family returned to Utah where he earned his LPN license. Eric then joined the Air Force and was selected after a highly competitive examination to be trained as a cryptologic linguist. He was stationed on the Monterrey peninsula where he learned Chinese and developed a life-long love for that beautiful spot. Returning to Utah after his time in the military, Eric began in earnest his career in nursing, working in a succession of roles in the home healthcare, hospice and assisted living segments of the healthcare industry. One job he particularly enjoyed during those early years was providing home healthcare to pediatric patients. Due to the skilled, kind and loving care he provided to those young people and his other patients over the years, Eric was beloved by them and their families, many of whom kept in contact with Eric. Eric’s natural abilities were quickly recognized by his employers and he rose to assistant director and director positions in a succession of ever-larger healthcare organizations.
After Eric’s first marriage ended in divorce, he met Maryanne Topham in what they both always described as “love at first sight.” Eric and Maryanne were married in a wedding ceremony on a Caribbean beach in December 2017. He was a devoted and loving husband to Maryanne—not a day went by without Eric letting Maryanne know he adored her.
Eric also loved being a dad and teaching his children about the things he valued in life, such as kindness and love of learning, while sharing his unusually broad wealth of knowledge. He was a nurturing stepfather to Maryanne’s son Will, who considered Eric as his father. And before his passing, Eric and Maryanne learned they finally were expecting a child of their own after years of failed attempts. Despite his busy schedule, Eric began constructing a nursery in their home to welcome the dark-haired little girl that he repeatedly had dreamt of over the years.
Soon after their marriage, Eric, Maryanne and Will moved into their beautiful home in Holladay where Eric was able to pursue another love–gardening. Eric cherished springtime and the renewal it brings and had big plans for this year’s garden—leaving behind an enormous bag of topsoil/mulch on his driveway and a sizable crop of seedlings that he’d been nurturing under grow lights in his home office and basement, ready for planting this month.
As he continued to work full time in the healthcare industry Eric returned to the classroom full time as well, earning his RN license in 2019 and his BSN (bachelor of science in nursing) degree from Weber State University in 2020. In 2020, Eric also was admitted to the University of Utah’s Professional MBA program and will be awarded his MBA degree posthumously on May 6, 2022.
In 2020, Eric joined Intermountain Healthcare as the clinical operations manager for their SLC North Homecare division. He valued his IHC friends and colleagues and was honored to be part of that organization. Eric was appreciated by the employees whom he managed as a fair and generous leader who relished helping them to succeed. IHC’s executive leadership also appreciated Eric; in December 2021 he was asked to speak at a conference for IHC’s leadership which can be viewed here (watch from about 14:40 to about 20:30): https://Leadership Town Hall Mindset and Actions for Leadership Success | December 2021 – YouTube Eric’s loved ones are grateful that this speech was captured for posterity because it clearly shows not only Eric’s professional competence but his caring, kind and gentle soul.
Eric will be sorely missed. His dry sense of humor and split-second timing of zingers made gatherings so much fun. He was a uniquely kind, talented, considerate, loving individual—always outside himself and always doing all he could to help and support others and lighten their loads. One friend has said “Eric was a man of deep and genuine goodness. The loss of Eric is profound.”.
Eric is survived by his wife, Maryanne; children Thomas, Ethan and Ava Palmer, stepson Will Jackson, and his much-anticipated and loved unborn baby girl; parents Mary and Gordon Palmer; siblings Lacey (Andy) Dahlstrom, Lydia (Jared) Shelton, Jordon (Jessica), and Natalie (Abel) Mendoza; and numerous nieces and nephews, all of whom will miss Eric deeply.
A celebration of Eric’s life for those who knew and loved him will be at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 21, in Holladay. Please RSVP here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/QXWMHMC.
The memorial also will be live streamed via Zoom. https://utah-health.zoom.us/j/99444006556?pwd=OFBTSCtsNUE1dUVpSjhrdnlBUzlMUT09
Well done, Eric. We love you. You truly brought joy and goodness to this life. https://www.mykeeper.com/profile/EricPalmer/