In the family tradition: Kyle Palmer named Silverton First Citizen

By Brenna Wiegand

Silverton’s 2013 First Citizen Kyle Palmer wishes all kids could enjoy the type of upbringing he did.

Palmer, 47, has been the practice manager at Silver Creek Animal Clinic since 1998 and is a certified vet tech specializing in animal dentistry. For 28 years, he has managed Evans Valley Stables and is director of Northwest Equine Practitioner’s Association.

His passion for kids led to YMCA veterinary camps and his love of the field and writing blended into a blog recently named one of the Top 5 veterinary blogs in the country. His practice of caring for the community, he thinks, stems from what he considers his “storybook childhood in Silverton.”

“It’s really a sense of owing this community back for the terrific childhood that I had,” Palmer said.

That sense was sparked about 15 years ago while he was strolling around Homer Davenport Days.

“I noticed some people I went to school with, including Dixon Bledsoe, running Homer,” Palmer said. “I looked around, saw these people working in the booths and thought, ‘Why has nobody asked me to do that?’ The light came on: If you wait for someone to ask you, it’s not going to happen. It’s sort of gone on from there.”

Not long after, Palmer met Darin Rybloom – Rybloom remembers it exactly. They’d both been named to the Silverton Chamber of Commerce’s golf tournament committee. Rybloom walked into Dennis Downey’s office for the meeting and met Palmer.

“Four words out of his mouth and I knew he was a class act,” Rybloom said. “From there it was like a rocket.”

The fast friends roped in Richard Carlson to become an unstoppable force for good in the community.

“Carlson, Palmer and Rybloom – we could take on anything in town,” Rybloom said. “Kyle can run all around town doing more stuff than anybody else and nobody knows it but me. Well, except maybe for his wife Julie.”

Three years ago they poured it on, helping save Homer Davenport Days from possible extinction when its leadership was floundering. The Silverton Rotary Club, which Palmer is a member, assumed the role of administering the festival, presenting it as a fresh entity: Homer Davenport Community Festival. “We took it over with zero resources and managed to give back $4,000 the first year,” Palmer said. “Besides providing a good festival, our whole reason for running Homer is to give money back to the community and we’ve been able to do that to the tune of $5,000 to $15,000 a year in grants – and that’s important.”

“I could not think of a more deserving person,” Richard Carlson, Homer Days president, said. “In a single day he might be organizing food booths for Homer, serving food out of the YMCA booth, driving the trolley for Rotary, representing the city leaders and the list goes on.”

Palmer’s wife Julie is a volunteer in her own right and currently sits on the chamber of commerce board. They have two sons. Palmer’s mother, Lorna Steinberger, was Silverton’s first First Citizen in 1972. “She’ll be here for the banquet which is really exciting for me,” Palmer said.

Palmer’s investment in kids’ lives has taken many forms.

For more than 20 years, he was a driving force in implementing Silverton’s Junior Baseball Organization coaching, umpiring and leading and has been an enthusiastic member of the Silver Falls YMCA Leadership Council working toward making the “Y” and the swimming pool a safe and attractive asset for local youth.

One of his favorite tasks, Palmer said, was chairing the Silver Falls School District’s Bond Advisory Committee, overseeing every aspect of the new high school’s construction.

“I’m very proud of the end product – there were some very forward-thinking things we were able to do without a cent more of the taxpayers’ money,” Palmer said. “We actually gave back nearly a million dollars.”

Palmer spent eight years on Silverton City Council and has been on the city budget committee for 10. He was appointed to chair a parks and recreation task force, but still smarts over being bumped off council in 2012 due to losing the race for mayor to Stu Rasmussen. It was Palmer’s second bid.

“There are many long term things … that were half or partly done and it has been very difficult for me no longer being involved in that,” Palmer said. “I’m probably most proud of my time on city council and have attended every meeting the 13 months since I went out of office, doing everything I can with and for the city council short of being on the council – which I wouldn’t mind taking another shot at.” He hasn’t ruled out a third mayoral run.

“I’d have to become convinced by a lot of people that a run for mayor made sense again,” he said. “Leaving the council and leaving baseball have been the two hardest things I’ve ever done.” Umpiring prepared him for city government. “No matter what comes out of my mouth, 50 percent of the people love it and 50 percent of the people hate it.”

Rolling with the punches is one of the things that makes Palmer “a prime example of the kind of service to Silverton that makes our town such a wonderful place to live,” said Beth Davisson, “and we appreciate him very much.”

“There can be no doubt in anybody’s mind Kyle has made a broad and substantial impact on our community for many years,” wrote Beth Davisson and Rybloom in nominating Palmer. “In fact, he epitomizes the Silverton spirit of service, generosity and selfless dedication that we are so blessed to witness on an ongoing basis in our small town.”