June Palmer

June Wiltz Palmer was born June Gosse Wiltz on June 25, 1930 in Garden City, Kansas to Gosse G. and Dorothy Dickenson Wiltz. The Wiltz’s moved back to the Princeton, Illinois family homestead in 1937. The family lands had been founded by Andrew Gosse of Eschweiler in Alsace (then Germany, currently France) who settled in Bureau County in 1839 and established the area’s first brick yard, and the American House Hotel. In 1858 the Gosse family began farming over 500 acres west of Princeton and this successful venture lead to the gift of land to the Princeton Township that encompasses the current Bureau County Fair Grounds and the property now occupied by the Catholic Church. A lovely wooded farm of over 300 acres still exists on Epperson Run Road west of Princeton where a young June Wiltz rode her horse Dixie and pursued her passion for animals by caring for the farm’s orphaned lambs. June enjoyed Princeton’s small town atmosphere and a devoted circle of friends. Her high school days were memorable, and she was very active in school life. She had a beautiful singing voice and participated in the high school chorus, acted in plays, played the flute, took art classes and performed as a drum majorette for the Princeton High School Marching Band. June graduated in 1948 and attended the University of Illinois for one year. She was married in 1950 and again in 1956. June was blessed with four children who also grew up in Princeton - Judith, Jan, Durbin and Deborah. On New Year's Eve in 1979 June was wed for the final time to her high school sweetheart William E. Palmer. The couple made their home in Rockford, Illinois and enjoyed a long and happy marriage. After Bill's death in 2005, June moved to Gillette, Wyoming where her younger daughter resides and it was there that she made her home until her passing on October 11, 2009 at the Pioneer Manor Residence Home from complications of a long battle with arthritis. Throughout her life, June enjoyed the fine arts. She loved painting, drawing and theater, and she passed her passion for art on to her children. She loved to garden, and spent many happy hours fishing with her husband Bill on excursions to Florida, Minnesota and Canada. She traveled to California and Wyoming to visit her family and was inspired by the natural wonders she saw. June and Bill's home was filled with photos of her children and grandchildren from these beloved trips, and in her last days she was fortunate to be surrounded by many who loved her. June Palmer is survived by: brother Dickenson G. Wiltz and wife Carol of Eden Prairie, MN; daughter Judith Gosse of Centreville, VA; son Jan W. Gosse of Denver, CO; son Durbin G. Downey of Novato, CA; daughter Deborah L. (Downey) Michaels – wife of Jeremy Michaels of Gillette, WY; granddaughter Jade (Gosse) Lewis – wife of Robert C. Lewis of Madison, WI; granddaughter Juliet M. Gosse of Eden Prairie, MN; grandson Julian M.H. Michaels, a junior at Colgate University in Hamilton, NY; and Eva N. Michaels, a sophomore at Washington University in St. Louis, MO. The family has requested in lieu of flowers that donations be made to the Arthritis Foundation of America at www.arthritis.org or to the Bureau County Historical Society, 109 Park Ave West Princeton, Illinois 61356. Services will be held Saturday, October 17 in the Chapel at Oakland Cemetery, Princeton at 11:00 am.

June Palmer

June 25, 1930 - October 11, 2009