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When we met her at her cozy home in Canberra, Australia, last October, she was a young 98.
As we chatted about Australian history and immigration, my eyes caught a white, blue and silver metallic torch on top of a cabinet in her living room, very similar to an Olympic Torch.
And lo and behold, it was an Olympic Torch — a 2000 Sydney Olympics Torch.
The lovely lady we were talking to, Vera Palmer, had participated in the 2000 Sydney Olympics Torch Relay in Tamworth, New South Wales. She was even younger then: 85.
Shown here, 85-year-old Vera Palmer participating in the 2000 Sydney Olympics Torch relay in Tamworth, New South Wales. (Photo courtesy Mrs. Palmer’s son-in-law, Robert Greeney)
After expressing our amazement and admiration, it was back to listening to Vera’s fascinating recount of Australia’s rich, ever-changing immigration (“migration”) history and policies — something I had become intrigued by.
For, even to this day, in New South Wales, four out of every ten people are either migrants or the children of migrants.
And so it was with Vera’s grandparents who arrived in the mid 1800s from Britain and Ireland as free settlers. Vera’s English grandmother arrived in Australia aboard the ship Tory Belle, after which Vera’s daughter and one of Vera’s sisters were named.
That morning in Canberra, we continued to “pick” Vera’s sharp mind and amazing memory through every twist and turn of Australia’s “migration” policy, through the Post World War II period all the way to present policies.
When I recounted my unforgettable encounter with Vera Palmer almost a year ago, I said:
I also wish that I had spent more time with Vera tapping her amazing store of knowledge and experience, especially on “migration.” Australia’s and Australians’ attitudes towards immigration and immigrants have fluctuated back-and-forth over the past 225 years.
Sadly, as with so many wishes, this wish will not come true as 99-year-old Vera Palmer — Olympic Torch Bearer, historian par excellence, but most of all a lovely and loving great-grandmother, grandmother and mother — passed away last night, U.S. time.
My wife and I treasure every minute that we were able to spend with Vera, almost exactly one year ago, and we offer our deepest condolences to all the loved ones she leaves behind.
My appreciation to the Moderate Voice for giving me the opportunity to express such personal thoughts here.
Lead photo: Mrs. Vera Palmer at her home in Canberra holding the Olympic torch she carried in the 2000 Sydney Olympics Torch Relay (Photo by author)
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.