Charlotte Palmer

Charlotte Eugenia Fox Palmer, 92, departed from the driver’s seat on the bus of life on February 4, 2024. She was the youngest child born to Roscoe Garnett Fox and Kathleen Linda Dunn on Lover’s Lane in Deltaville, VA. As a young girl, she exemplified Jesus’ life sacrificing for those she loved. She became the caretaker of her ill mother, allowing her siblings to finish school, to marry and explore life from their humble beginnings. 

 After her mother’s death, she became a devoted wife to Stanley Brooks Palmer of Glenns, VA and then became a mother who continued to sacrifice to better the lives of her triplet sons, daughter and stepdaughter while living on a farm with all its joys and responsibilities. 

 When her husband became ill, she had to leave the farm life to become his caretaker for the next 20 years. During the time of raising her children and caring for her husband, she started a job with Middlesex County Public Schools, driving a school bus for 29 years, caring for her young passengers like a mother hen, and expressing the qualifications needed for the job. She dried their tears, dispelled their fears and found lost notebooks. She had eyes in the back of her head and ears that could hear sign language. She always said “Good morning” and “See you tomorrow” with “Sit down” in between. She got tired but seldom got mad and always got them home safely. She enjoyed volunteering to take students on field trips and truth be known, she became a carefree child again in excitement and joy with them, replacing, for a while, her own life’s struggles.

 Shortly before her retirement, in 1996, she was widowed and with her children grown, it was her older siblings she comforted through illnesses and death and would always be there for her friends in need and her church family. She also became a breast cancer survivor during this time. During her last years of life, she herself experienced the need to be helped, comforted and loved which she received and richly deserved. It came from those who saw and experienced her Christian virtues, learning a valuable lesson from her life of love and selflessness. The life of a “good and faithful servant”. 

 She was predeceased by her parents, her husband, her brothers, Walker Journeay Fox, William Ryland Fox, Granville Garnet Fox; sisters, Marjorie Kathleen Fox Williamson, Earnestine Elizabeth Fox Latham and her stepdaughter, Patricia Ann Palmer Wilson. 

 She is survived by her children, Linda Brooks Palmer Leasure (Chuck) of Saluda, Francis Wayne Palmer of Tucker, GA, Charles Warren Palmer (Donna) of Saluda and James Wendell Palmer of Saluda; grandchildren, William Wade Small, Sr of New Kent, Crystal Robyn Palmer Cooper (Tony) of Palm Harbor, FL, Benjamin Shane Leasure of Newport News, Jeb Stuart Leasure of Gloucester and Amanda Brooks Palmer Decker (Travis) of Orange Park, FL; great-grandchildren, William Wade Small, Jr, Alexis Nichole Small Ruthkowski (Cody) both of New Kent, Joel Miles Cooper of Palm Harbor FL, Jesiah Brady Decker and Presley Francis Carson Decker both of Orange Park FL. She was soon to become a great-great-grandmother. She is also survived by close friends of the family and many nieces and nephews. 

 The family would like to thank Riverside Health Systems Home Health and Hospice and the staff and nurses who aided and cared for our mother during the last days. Also thank you to Faulkner Funeral Homes, Bristow-Faulkner Chapel, for their aid and guidance at this time.

 A memorial service will be held at a later date.