Tresa Anne (Schwartzkopf) Palmer

Tresa Anne (Schwartzkopf) Palmer, age 73, died at home in Wichita, KS, surrounded by her family on Monday, January 11, 2021. Tresa was born in Wichita, KS in 1947 to Alice Opal (Kling) and Delven Benjamin (D.B.) Schwartzkopf. After meeting at a college Sunday School class in the 1960s at Trinity United Methodist Church in Hutchinson, KS, she married David Palmer, who traveled from his duty station in the U. S. Navy to Tresa’s hometown church in Ulysses, KS, for their 1971 wedding. Survivors include her husband, David Palmer, her daughter Amy Nadler and husband, Darin, of Olathe, KS, and her daughter Becky Curran and husband, Mike, of Park City, KS. Grandchildren include Claire and Jack Nadler, as well as Lindsey and Emily Curran. Also surviving are Tresa’s brother, Larry Schwartzkopf, of Seattle, WA and sister, Cheryl Shackelford and husband, Mike, of Hutchinson, KS, along with many beloved cousins and other relatives in the Schwartzkopf and Kling families. Tresa was preceded in death by her parents, Alice and D.B. Schwartzkopf. Honor, respect, integrity, and the importance of serving others were values instilled in Tresa by her parents, her grandparents, and through her participation in 4-H and church activities. From her own father’s example and from her Grandpa Adam Henry Kling and other relatives, Tresa learned the importance of serving her country. In 1970, Tresa completed a tour of military duty as a 1st Lieutenant at Danang, Vietnam, in a Medevac Unit of the United States Air Force Nurse Corps. Due to a pattern of chronic diseases later in her life, Tresa’s name was entered into the national Agent Orange Registry at the Veterans Affairs Regional Center, after it was verified that during her service, she had indeed been exposed to toxic herbicides used in the Vietnam conflict. Tresa was a gifted nurse, and she used her skills to bless people’s lives in a variety of settings, including a position as charge nurse of an obstetrics ward in a research hospital at the University of Arizona at Tucson, plus a decade of service with the city-county Health Department in Wichita, KS. In recent decades, she most enjoyed presenting dozens of six-week series of Lamaze classes to prepare several hundred mothers and their coaches for childbirth during more than 30 years. Tresa followed up this work by providing medical support inside the hospital setting for new mothers who discovered that breastfeeding included one or more personal challenges. Tresa’s favorite job of her entire career was working for many years as a member of the Lactation Consultants team at St. Joseph Hospital before she retired in 2014. In later years, Tresa had many other passions in her life, including spending time with her grandchildren, singing in the church Chancel Choir at the Pleasant Valley United Methodist Church, sewing with the PV quilters, and serving God’s people in many other ways through her involvement in the United Methodist Women’s group. Since Tresa had learned a lot about sewing from her mother and her grandmothers, and because she placed great value on recognizing and respecting military veterans who served our country, she continued applying her sewing skills during her retirement years as she worked with an organization known as Quilts of Valor, making heirloom-quality quilts for military veterans. In addition, extended family was always important to Tresa, and she looked forward each year to annual reunions of her Kling family members and her Schwartzkopf relatives. In her free time, Tresa enjoyed traveling, camping, listening to audio books, gardening, sewing and making many wonderful things in her kitchen, including her much-loved and very tasty sourdough bread. A memorial service to celebrate Tresa Palmer’s life will be held on Saturday, November 20, 2021, at 11am at Pleasant Valley United Methodist Church, 1600 W. 27th North in Wichita, KS. Service will be live streamed and recorded at https://vimeo.com/639164270/513508fd7e. There will be no graveside service at this time. In honor of Tresa’s service to her country, an Air Force Honor Guard will conduct part of the Memorial Service. In lieu of flowers, Tresa’s family invites you to continue sharing her kindness by donating your time or resources to help others on your list or hers. Here are some of Tresa’s favorite charitable organizations: St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place Memphis, TN 38105 (Tresa Palmer Memorial) ; Pleasant Valley United Methodist Church, 1600 W 27th St North Wichita, KS 67204 (Please designate one of the following areas on the website or in the memo line of a personal check: Tresa Palmer Memorial - United Methodist Women; Tresa Palmer Memorial - Music Ministries; Tresa Palmer Memorial - Pastoral Discretionary Fund; Tresa Palmer Memorial - Health Ministries); United Methodist Open Door, Inc., P.O. Box 2756 Wichita, KS 67201-2756 (Please use the Donate Now button, choose Memorial gift, and designate Tresa Palmer); or GraceMed, 1150 N Broadway Wichita, KS 67214 . Downing & Lahey Mortuary West.