Jim and Shirley Palmer: January 2021

I just came across a paper our daughter Alisha wrote for school where she interviewed my parents. She asked my Dad about his memories of when him and Mom met:

I had recently returned from serving an LDS Mission in Brazil in December. In January, I had found an apartment and started college at Brigham Young University. One day I came home and by the phone stand, there was a note saying that there was a party that night and if anyone wanted to go, to call the number on the note. Elwood Tyler, a retuned missionary, had left it for us, he could not go. Me and my friend, Ferril Brown, called the girls, and they wanted us to come. Now about every Friday, Shirley and her five roommates would have an activity where they would move the beds to the wall and they would play games and dance. The girls would take turns and invite various boys. Shirley roomed with two Guatemalan girls who had known Elwood Tyler and had invited him. That night when I saw Grandma, she was the most beautiful girl there and that I had ever seen. All night I tried to dance as much as I could with her. All that night we had a wonderful time. At the end of the activity, I asked her if she would like to go to another party at a Brazilian Flat the next day. She said yes. So we went to the party the next night and had even more fun.

A little while later Shirley and her roommates went and made arrangements to stay in Salt Lake for General Conference. We then stopped dating for a while.

In August, I was asked to give a fireside on Brazil at the home of Sister Stone (her son is now one of the General Authorities. Elder Stone). Well two of the roommates there said it was too late to go back to my lodgings and they insisted that I stay the night. So they set me up a little cot and I stayed the night The next day at 5 a.m., I woke up to go back to my lodgings at Daniel's.

Well, Granma had a feeling to find me. So on a Friday she went up the canyon to find me. It was really cloudy and couldn't find me so she went to a restaurant and found one of the workers who worked with me and asked if he knew where I was. He said no, but that she could leave a note for me. So she left me a note to get in touch. I got the note and when I got off work I drove down to Provo. We began to talk and then we went on kind of a date. We were both feeling interested in getting back together.

In April 1958, there was a big Jr. Prom with an Oriental theme. Me and two or three of my roommates and decided to all get engaged that night. So I went and bought a big ring for Grandma. So that night, during the intermission, I asked if she wanted to go on a walk. So we walked to my car and got in. I reached into the glove box and got out a box and I handed it to her and asked if she would marry me. She opened up the box and said yes. Five months later we were making plans to get married.