{"id":10762,"date":"2025-11-01T10:00:56","date_gmt":"2025-11-01T10:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/silveridge.com\/?p=10762"},"modified":"2025-10-28T23:12:05","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T23:12:05","slug":"november-2025-newsletter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silveridge.com\/?p=10762","title":{"rendered":"November 2025 Newsletter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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The latest in our series\u2026<\/h3>\n

The People of the Park<\/h3>\n

Gold Star Family<\/h1>\n

A Visit with the Palmers<\/h2>\n

By Dale Dauten<\/h4>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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When we get to visit with couples, we always look forward to hearing about how the two met and with the Palmers, Brad and Rachele (better known as Shelly), we now figure that they likely hold the park record for the youngest engagement. Here\u2019s how it happened:<\/p>\n

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Shelly was living in Great Falls, Montana, a junior at Charles Russell High (a school, she tells us, that having been built on what was once a stockyard, is known to locals as \u201cCowpie High\u201d). A family moved in across the street and she became friends with their two youngest boys. It turns out that those two boys were Brad\u2019s younger brothers, and when Brad came home from college for the summer, he met Shelly and the two started dating. He proposed and she wanted to say \u201cyes,\u201d but there was the issue of her age, only being a Junior in high school, and of her telling her mother. Unable to figure out a way to start that mother-daughter talk, Shelly left out a catalog from Zale\u2019s Jewelry, open to the wedding rings. It worked: Mom asked Shelly, \u201cYou trying to tell me something?\u201d And that led to an agreement: graduate before getting married. Shelly graduated on May 28 and married on June 26. As she put it, \u201cWe sent out graduation announcements and wedding invitations almost at the same time.\u201d The Palmers will celebrate their 50 year wedding anniversary this coming June.<\/p>\n

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The Palmers then and now (at a recent country-western dance at Silveridge)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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THE CAREER YEARS<\/strong><\/h4>\n

We mentioned that Brad met Shelly when he came home from college for the summer. That was him coming back from college permanently, having decided that after his Freshman year on a football scholarship to the Butte School of Mines that he \u201cwasn\u2019t college material.\u201d But he would eventually learn that he was career material, and leadership material, too. Brad went to work for a welding supply company and, after 17 years, it led to a job in Colorado as a warehouse manager, then operations manager, and then into sales, which included a move to Leadville, Colorado. It was there that he was hired by Lake County and rose to be Public Works Director — that meant he was in charge of roads and bridges, the recreation department, the landfill, and when the County decided they wanted to take over the airport, that was his, too. (That last assignment got him invited to speak at an FAA conference, and also took him to Washington, DC, where he met with Transportation Secretary Elaine Chow.) When Brad hit the age of 65, he\u2019d been working for 53 years, and he declared, \u201cThat\u2019s it. I\u2019m done.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Meanwhile, Shelly had a career of her own. She started in retail — at a Montgomery Wards store \u2013 but ended up taking off a few years when the couple\u2019s two sons were young. She next landed a job in Accounting with a ski resort, followed by what became her favorite assignment, working for a foundation: \u201cInstead of dealing with customer problems, donors were giving money away.\u201d Eventually, she, too, ended up working for Lake County, but in the Treasurer\u2019s office. That\u2019s where she stayed until Brad resigned and she decided to join him in retirement.<\/p>\n

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DOWNSIZE<\/h4>\n

Retirement brought a new challenge: a massive downsizing. The couple left the house they\u2019d lived in for 25 years and moved into their fifth-wheel. As Brad put it, \u201cYou learn to thin out.\u201d Moreover, he offered this challenge, and with it an insight into accumulation:<\/p>\n

\u201cCount the coffee cups in your cupboard.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A GOLD STAR FAMILY<\/h4>\n

But that takes us to a topic that is not just hard, but the hardest one of all: losing a child. And losing a healthy, full-of-life son who was serving his country. In the case of the Palmers, it was one of their two sons, killed while a Marine deployed in Iraq.<\/p>\n

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The older of the two boys, Dustin, served in the U.S. Navy, including a tour on an aircraft carrier that took him around the world. The younger son, Nick, announced as a Junior in high school that he, too, wanted to serve, but as a Marine. This was a few years after 9\/11 and Nick \u201cwanted to make a difference.\u201d Brad tells us that Nick used to joke about his role as a combat engineer, calling them, \u201cmasters of construction and deconstruction.\u201d However\u2026<\/p>\n

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Deployed to Iraq in 2006, Nick was seven months into a nine month tour, when he volunteered to take the turret in a Humvee sent to look for IEDs near Fallujah. While on patrol, Nick was fatally shot by a sniper.<\/p>\n

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Back in Colorado, Brad and Shelly were at home, getting ready for a Christmas party for Brad\u2019s Public Works team at the County. The doorbell rang and Brad glimpsed a pair of people, dressed up, and recalls calling to Shelly to answer the door, saying, \u201cI think they\u2019re Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses.\u201d No. They began with some of the most awful words parents can hear: \u201cAre you the parents of\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

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While no one ever recovers fully from such a blow, the Palmers had the solace of shared grief from every corner of the country and beyond. It took two weeks to get Nick home. The military planned to have him arrive at Denver on Christmas Day, which no one felt was acceptable, including the CEO of American Airlines who called Shelly to promise to get him home before Christmas. And when his casket was transported home, hundreds lined the street as it passed by.<\/p>\n

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A memorial service was held at the largest facility in town, the high school auditorium, but 5000 seats weren\u2019t enough \u2013 an overflow facility was required. And in came \u201ca laundry basket full of letters from all over the country.\u201d There\u2019s also a section of highway named for Nick, called the Fallen Heroes Highway.<\/p>\n

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The support has continued, as has Brad\u2019s willingness to speak at Memorial Day events and other gatherings. Brad adds, \u201cIt\u2019s my mission in life today: that he\u2019s never forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n

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As for the folks at Silveridge, he says, \u201cAnyone wants to hear our story, we\u2019ll tell it.\u201d It\u2019s a heartbreaking story, but one with a message for us all.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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(That\u2019s Brad\u2019s mom, Doreen, a longtime resident at Silveridge, next to Shelly)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The latest in our series\u2026 The People of the Park Gold Star Family A Visit with the Palmers By Dale […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[24],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/silveridge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10762"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/silveridge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/silveridge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silveridge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silveridge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10762"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/silveridge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10762\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10764,"href":"https:\/\/silveridge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10762\/revisions\/10764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/silveridge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silveridge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silveridge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}