CHESTER PALMER

Chester Palmer

By Luke Vazquez

Logansport High School – April, 2015

(Illustrations to be added)

Chester Clarence Palmer, my great grandfather, was born on April 17, 1912, and died in 1995. As a child, Chester lived in Nacogdoches, Texas, and only got a second grade education. Chester’s father left his household when he was very little, making him the man of the house at a very young age. One of the first things that he would do was to sell apples in down town Nacogdoches.

Many boys at the time would farm a piece of someone else’s land, sell the produce, give the money to the land owner, and keep a portion. Chester didn’t think that was worth it.  Instead he would go to the people that were growing the produce and buy the produce before they had to take it to the markets. Then he would take the produce to the markets in town and sell it for more. That way he got to keep all of the earnings, did not even have to work hard growing the produce, and made more money than other sellers, supporting his family.

Chester would often catch fish for his family to eat. As a side note, one of Chester’s “big fishing stories”, was that when he was 22 years old, he was fishing on the Sabine River, when he had a conversation with a couple that were visitors passing through.  Only a couple weeks later, on May 23, 1934, there was news of the deaths of Clyde Barrow and his companion, Bonnie Parker by an ambush shooting in Bienville Parish, Louisiana. After seeing pictures of the two Chester recognized them as the couple he had talked to. According to an article from the FBI, the hunt for Bonnie and Clyde was “one of the most colorful and spectacular manhunts the nation had seen up to that time.”

One interesting thing Chester did during the depression was that he bought a model T Ford truck and had a saw mill welded to the back of it and legs that unfolded to stabilize the truck. This may seem like it is not that useful, but it was. With the mill on the back of the truck, he could drive around looking for people cutting trees and mill their timber right then and there. The timber men would pay well for his service since his mobile mill would save them a trip to the closest saw mill. His mobile saw mill was one of his biggest ways of making money during the depression (in his 20’s).

Chester married Mary Josephine Wimberley on October 17, 1936, and they had Barbra and Doug before he worked in the shipyards in World War II. He was exempt from war since he had two children at the time. When he went to the shipyards he signed up as a welder when he had never welded in his life.   The very next day he was welding with no experience.

Chester tried many ways to make money, but was always trying new things. He owned a small café in Joaquin, Texas, and lived in the back for a short time.  He had pop machines in different places; he would buy used cars for cheap, and had them parked in front of his house for sale sort of like a mini car dealership; and many other things.

After Chester had been married and had several children, he made the most money. Chester bought a large truck and would buy lots of eggs from chicken farms.  After that, he would clean the eggs, put them in cartons, and sell them for more. He would not sell the eggs for much more than he bought them for, but selling lots of them, the money added up.

According to his oldest son, Doug, after selling eggs for a day, along with his other small businesses, “Papa would come home with a couple hundred dollars or more every day”. His wife would put the money in the freezer for the night and take it to the bank the next morning.”  My grandmother, Janis, said that she remembered that the whole family would work until late at night to clean and carton the eggs. Being the youngest, she would get to go to bed earlier.

Chester’s egg business ended up making lots of money to pay off debts and support his family. He decided, though, that he needed it less than his brother B.C. Palmer, and sold his business to B.C., who made money off of it and later bought N.J. Caraway and Co. in Logansport, Louisiana.

Chester also owned and built a motel in Logansport. It was located behind the store known as Judge’s. He owned the house behind the motel until he died. Chester was happily married to Mary Josephine (Wimberley) Palmer until he died in 1995. His five children in order from oldest to youngest were Benita Barbara, Joe Douglas, Kitty Maryann, Janis Mae, and Cheryl Darlene.

During the last part of his life Chester mostly pedaled fish and Watermelon in Logansport. My Dad remembers that one weekend Chester “smooth talked” him into picking his whole watermelon garden and putting every one of them onto a flatbed trailer to sell. He also remembers fishing with him in a small aluminum boat that he would anchor with a piece of twine with a spark plug on the end. Chester would always say a big anchor was too much of a load just to hold a small boat.

Some things I know about him are from my Dad.  When my Dad bought a diesel truck, the dealership owner told him that many years ago, he came to his dealership to find a tractor in his lot. After asking around, the owner found out that one of his salesmen had allowed Chester to make an even trade with his tractor for a pick-up truck.  Many people that knew him say that he was a very good salesman, which would explain why he pedaled goods during parts of his life and how he got away with a truck for a tractor and didn’t even boast about it. Dad says, “Papa, could sell an ice block to an Eskimo and make him feel good about the product he bought.“

Many people that knew him also say, he was very smart, and an entrepreneur. I believe this because of the great ideas he came up with to support his family from a young boy until he died.  But then again all people from what we consider the past had interesting stories, and I am glad that I know his.  I remember him when I’m making decisions, I try not to think about what others do, but think of the inputs and outputs of plans and find the best.