Karl Palmer

Interview by Harlan Lyso

Recently, classmate Karl Palmer and his wife Chrys visited us in Tucson, and I was able to catch up on what Karl has been doing since graduating from our beloved Pasco High School. Unlike me, Karl has kept in contact with many of our classmates. Because many of us recall him from elementary through high school years together, and as he has stayed connected with so many, it made perfect sense to share his story with all our classmates.

Karl has been part of the PHS Class of ’64 since second grade, when his family moved from Richland to west Pasco. He lived in the same house on Road 44, just off Court Street, throughout high school. His father was a substation supervisor at Hanford and his mother was a piano teacher, who taught many of our classmates piano.

While he recognizes that some may not have found high school satisfying, Karl says he loved school. He enjoyed the classes, teachers, learning, and he has great memories of time with friends. He especially remembers playing center on the football team (even though in our senior year we did not have a great season), and cruising Zips in Kennewick and A&W in Pasco with Butch Smith and Larry Thomas and other classmates.

Like many of our classmates, Karl’s first stop after graduation was Columbia Basin College. He later chose to continue his education at Western Washington State University, drawn half by the school itself and by the long ski season at nearby Mount Baker. His love of skiing began in 5^th grade but greatly expanded by taking ski trips with Doug Muse and Rod Agassiz. Photos Karl has posted on the PHS Class of ’64 website show that skiing and mountain biking have long been his passions and remain so today. He also spoke enthusiastically about the free skiing many resorts offer people age 80 and older.

While most of us were settling into rather traditional jobs after high school or college, Karl, with his Geology degree spent two years prospecting in remote northern British Columbia.  During the winter months, when prospecting was less feasible, he was employed doing avalanche control at Mount Baker.  He recalls one harrowing experience when the lighted explosive he threw over a cornice stuck to his glove and fell in deep snow next to his downhill foot. He dove onto the charge, found it, and threw it over the cornice with 45 seconds left on the burning fuse. Two other patrollers were rapidly backing up on skis and nervously laughing. He also spent the summer of 1969 clearing and logging runs for two new lifts at Mount Baker.  This turned out not only to be a decent job, but it was where he met his wife, Chrys.

Karl and Chrys were married in 1971.  Chrys says that Karl made quite an impression on her father, as Karl’s hard work and financial acumen were apparent in his already being the owner of a rental home and a duplex. When Karl was 19, his landlord in Bellingham guided him through the process of buying, cleaning and renting property.  That was just the beginning, as at one time Karl and Chrys owned and managed as many as 13 residences. 

In addition to his penchant for skiing and mountain biking, Karl held jobs just like the rest of us.   He worked at a variety of jobs, including as a cement truck driver. Then he found his life work as a refinery technician for ARCO and BP with whom he worked for 27 years, refining crude oil from Alaska into gasoline and jet fuel.

I was a bit jealous when I learned that Karl lived the dream that many of us had, retiring early in 2004 to ski, mountain bike, volunteer and travel. In 2020 Karl and Chrys moved from Bellingham to Idaho full time for the weather and better overall climate.  They also have a home southeast of Phoenix, Arizona where they spend the spring and fall, enabling Karl to enjoy his outdoor passions year-round.

Karl says that he has attended nearly all of the PHS Class of 64 reunions and looks forward to catching up with friends at the class 80^th birthday party scheduled for August 2026. He appreciates the fact that he had really good friends in high school, and as he reflects on his 80 years of life, he feels that he has been truly blessed. Karl has lived a life with a focus on those things about which he is passionate, and given that he is fit and healthy, will assuredly continue to do so in the years to come.