By Kathy Cook Hunter
Get Dora Palmquist in the Silverton Senior Center’s kitchen and she tolerates no distractions from the task at hand as she fills bags for Meals-On-Wheels. She orders everyone out of her way so she can be sure every bag is perfect. Hands on her hips, Palmquist unabashedly admits, “I figure I’m old enough to tell them what to do.”
At age 92 – “and a half,” she added – this whirlwind of a volunteer is a town treasure, and for that, Palmquist is receiving the Distinguished Service award at the chamber’s annual awards dinner.
After being married 66 years, she was widowed nine years ago. “That’s why I had to get busy,” she said. Truth be told, though, she has always volunteered and claims “I’d have gone bonkers if I hadn’t.”
Palmquist volunteers four days a week. Mondays and Wednesdays she works at Silverton Area Community Aid where she sorts donated vegetables; on Tuesdays she’s at the Senior Center for Meals-On-Wheels preparation.
Said center Director Ruth Cock, “she’s a highly intelligent, thoughtful person and always very reliable. I think community service stimulates her and I think the young people could take a lesson from her.”
On Thursdays she helps at Medical Teams International’s warehouse in Tigard.
“My particular job is they get lots of samples from medical companies and I take out samples that are expired,” said Palmquist.
Dotty Reid, a fellow church member and retired nurse, drives Palmquist to Tigard to volunteer, which they’ve done for six years. “She’s the most caring person I know,” said Reid. “She’s very strong in her faith and knows she wants to help people.”
There’s her church volunteering to consider, too. At Trinity Lutheran Church “there’s always something to do,” she said. She’s taught Sunday School, helps with funeral receptions and decorates tables, “anything to keep me out of the pool hall,” she joked.
She and her husband, Elmer, reared six children in the Monitor area and for years she took them out to pick crops such as hops and green beans with her in the summer. For 14 years she worked at Monitor School.
“I was maid-of-all-work but my original job was setting up a central library,” she said. “It evolved over the years into doing whatever someone needed. That was all right with me. I enjoyed my work there.”
One time during her first years there the principal of the school remarked, “You should have been a teacher!” Perhaps she should have been. However, Palmquist was content.
“I liked my life,” she said. “If we had problems we just worked it through.”
“It’s difficult to quantify Dora’s contributions,” said SACA Director Sally Eliason. “She commits endless hours of her time, but also is an inspiration to new and younger volunteers, displaying the fulfillment she receives from serving the community. I can only speak in admiration of Dora’s work for SACA.”
Asked why she’s so giving, Palmquist said, “It’s just the way I am. Sometimes I think that I don’t deserve any credit. In satisfaction and people I meet and my co-workers, you get back as much as you give and you meet some great people.”
Palmquist is flattered to receive the award for service but said she didn’t do it for that reason. “It’s nice to know you’re recognized for your efforts, but I’ve always made efforts because they needed to be done, I guess. I do appreciate it.”
