11 November 1955 (Friday)
Springfield (Mo.) Leader-Press
Springfield Man Killed by Train at Grade Crossing
A Springfield man was killed instantly last night when his car was struck by a train at a grade crossing in Grand Island, Neb.
Dead is Jess W. Palmer, 58, of 2051 Elizabeth, a former boilermaker of the Frisco Railroad's west shops here. Mr. Palmer had been employed as a boilermaker for the Union Pacific in Grand Island for the past seven years but had continued to maintain a home here.
Relatives said that Mr. Palmer, who is partially deaf, apparently didn't hear the oncoming train as his car passed over the crossing about 7 p.m. His body will be returned to Springfield for services and burial under direction of Herman Lohmeyer.
Surviving are his wife, Martha of the home; three sons, Elmer of Wichita, Floyd, who is in the Navy, and James of the home; four daughters, Mrs. Roy Tate and Mrs. Tom Mitchell of 1628 East Commercial, Mrs. James Plaster of 1331 West Chase and Miss Veda May Palmer of the home; one brother, Martin of Springfield; a half-brother, James of Hastings, Neb.; three sisters, Mrs. Walter Massey of Tulsa, Mrs. Harold Chambers of Vancouver, Wash., and Mrs. Tom Douglas of Tacoma, Neb.