Obituary of Linda Rae Palm

Linda Rae Decker Palm spent a lifetime caring for and educating others with compassion and good cheer. She died Feb. 20 at age 79, two and a half years after being diagnosed with multiple myeloma, an illness she handled with her customary grace and courage. 

Born in Stamford on Nov. 16, 1944, to Chauncey and Winifred Decker, Linda graduated from South Kortright Central School in 1962. She received a bachelor's degree from the State University of New York at Oswego, and then earned a master's degree in education from Penn State. 

She married Daniel J. Palm, of South Kortright, at Sacred Heart Church in Stamford on July 29, 1967, a 56-year union that lasted until her death.  They had two sons, born in Pennsylvania: Matthew J., now a journalist in Orlando, Fla., and Jacob A., a clinical psychologist in Long Beach, Calif.

In her youth, she attended Township United Methodist Church and was later confirmed a Catholic with her son, Jacob.

A teacher by vocation, Linda educated students at schools in Schenectady; Mesquite, N.M.; Watertown, N.Y.; General Brown High School in Dexter, N.Y.; and West Genesee High School in Camillus. Her specialty was remedial reading. 

After living in Las Cruces, N.M., and State College, Penn., the family resided in Sackets Harbor, N.Y.  for close to two decades before moving to Camillus. Linda and Dan retired to Stamford in 2001, back to the Township valley of their youth.

In Sackets Harbor, Linda was a member of the St. Andrew Catholic Church's Altar-Rosary Society and the Wanderlust women's group.

More recently, Linda served as board president of the Locust Hill Cemetery in Hobart. She also was involved for many years with the Inner Wheel service club and the Sacred Heart Parish Women's Guild. She was a longtime volunteer at C.O.R.E. Values Thrift Shop in Stamford, where she took special pride in refreshing used dolls for resale, and enjoyed reading as part of book club and playing mahjong.

At home, she gardened and played with Pepper, the latest in a long succession of Black Labs serving as family companions.  

Linda loved music and enjoyed singing in church choirs. With an artistic eye and myriad stamp pads, she was an avid maker of greeting cards, sold at area stores and craft fairs and sent to friends and family with love.

She had a lifelong love of the outdoors and with her family visited more than 400 national parks, monuments, historic sites and other places of interest. 

On family vacations, with an adventurous spirit she hiked and explored cities and natural landscapes on all seven continents, from the icy ridges of Antarctica to the grassy savannahs of Kenya, from the jungles of India to the wilds of Alaska. 

In addition to her husband and sons, Linda is survived by her siblings and their spouses, Carol and Alan Levy of Monroe Township, N.J., Dean and Donna Decker of Hudson, Mass., Edward and Erica Decker of Colorado Springs, Colo., and Kent Many of Chapel Hill, N.C., husband of her late sister, Donna. Another sister, Brenda, died in infancy. 

Linda was close with her in-laws and is also survived by Charles and Cora Palm of Stamford, Eric and Beverly Lawson of Saratoga Springs and Emma Taylor of Hoover, Ala., as well as numerous beloved nieces, nephews and their spouses and children.

Calling hours will be 3-6 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 25, at MacArthur Funeral Home, Stamford. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Monday, Feb. 26, at Sacred Heart Church in Stamford, with private burial at Saratoga National Cemetery to follow. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in Linda's memory to the Bassett Cancer Institute Initiative via the Friends of Bassett Health Care Network website at friendsofbassett.org/ways-to-give.  

Please visit www.macarthurfh.com to share a condolence with Linda’s family.

To watch a recording of Linda's Mass follow the link below

Linda Palm's Mass