Image of the Day
Pauline, Jack, and Tilda Palmer in 1985 or 1986
Many of you will have heard this news and/or seen this picture elsewhere, but some of you who have heard the news won't have seen the picture (which I've only posted on Facebook otherwise) and it's possible some of you won't have heard the news, which is that Jack Palmer, a.k.a. Rudi Rubberoid, died last month at age 84. The Bellingham Herald ran an obituary, and the same obituary was also posted by the funeral home with additional photos.
When I first moved to Seattle in the mid-'80s the Palmers were a fixture of my fannish social circle, even though they lived in Bellingham. (Seattle and Bellingham fandom have always had pretty strong ties, I think.) They threw a party at their house in what must have been early days after my move that had a profound impact on me, partly because it introduced me to some of Jack's daughter Tilda's high school friends, who were the coolest kids I had ever met and became friends and inspirations. The picture above was taken at a party that Denys and I threw after that, either in September 1985 or March 1986. (We used to throw parties both in the month of our birthdays, September, and six months later, the Unbirthday Party.) Jack had a great sense of humor, very playful, and this pose is typical of my image of him. I lost touch with the Palmers sometime in the '90s, but I've always remembered them fondly. The picture also shows Pauline, Jack's wife, and their daughter Tilda, who I believe would still have been a teenager at this point. It's very strange to look at the artwork on the wall behind them, because I don't remember any of it!
Update: And maybe that's because the picture wasn't taken at our house! I forwarded this to Steve Bieler, and he writes, "This is how I always think of them, no matter what year this is. But wasn’t this photo taken at their house? I recognize the furniture and the artwork. The print that’s second from the right is still on their wall." So it's quite possible that this picture was actually taken at the party at their house that I mentioned.