Friday, June 19, 2009
Long-ago rescue leads to long-awaited reunion
James Earl Palmiter (left) and Wesley Bower at the gathering. — Priscilla Richardson, special to The Botetourt View
Priscilla Richardson is columnist The Botetourt View. You can contact her at 981-3430 or via e-mail.
Priscilla Richardson
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"I can feel the love in this room."
Long ago, 1949 to be exact, a World War II veteran and rookie policeman named Wesley Bower was cruising Bullitt Avenue in Roanoke. He spotted a three-year-old child climbing the rail around a pond next to the street. The boy then fell into water over his head. Bower ran from his patrol car, jumped over the fence into the water and brought him out as he went under for the second time. The little boy, James Earl Palmiter, suffered no harm. As the years went on, Blue Ridge's Bower thought about his rescue and wondered what had become of that child.
Those of you who have been reading this column for several years remember the story. And also the story of how Wesley Bower's friend, Fincastle's Katherine Harris, enlisted the help of Rena Worthen at the Fincastle Library to find Palmiter through the Internet. Harris wrote Palmiter to make the connection. Bower, amazed at the find, wanted to meet this man.
Bower and Palmiter exchanged telephone calls, with a meeting set for last year. However, due to a death in the family, the Palmiters had to cancel. But earlier this month, the big event came. Bower and his wife Lorraine set up a big dinner party at the Fat Cat Diner in Fincastle and invited everyone they knew would be interested.
Bower's grandson, Blue Ridge's Alan Bower, attended with his wife Susie and their two sons. Harris, Bower's neighbors, a caretaker for Bower's wife, a photographer, and others including me also came. What a lot of talking! Folks who a few minutes before had been total strangers started to become friends, and friends were cementing friendships.
Palmiter's family lived near Bullitt Avenue at the time of his rescue. They used to walk to the long gone Cloverdale Creamery for raspberry ice cream. He once rode his bicycle right in front of a car and ended in the hospital. Another time he got hit by a bus. "Not a lick of sense since I was a kid."
In1954 the self-admitted hellion moved with his family to Newport News, and then in 1959 to Baltimore. Later on, skipping military service due to an eye condition, he finished high school 10 years after the normal time. Then came community college for a degree in graphic arts. Working as a photographer he segued into computers.
In the meantime he married Linda in 1967 and they had a son, Jimmy, who died at age 38 almost three years ago. After their boy entered school, Linda went back to school herself and ended up working for 32 years for a Baltimore company.
When retirement time came, Palmiter sold his business and they moved down to Macon, Ga. "We just fell in love with it. We had been planning to move to Florida but we couldn't afford it."
Palmiter often wondered over the years "why I've had my hide saved," he said. "I've been in three head-on collisions. God has brought me through and I don't understand why. Was this one of the reasons?" He didn't answer his own question. However, recently he took the classes to become a lay pastor in the Methodist church, serving today.
Palmiter and Bower certainly would have been friends all along if they had met up sooner. Both laugh and joke around a lot and have similar views. But Palmiter knows how indebted he is to Bower for his life. In the middle of all the talk Palmiter said, "I can feel the love in this room." So could we all.
