Palmer (nee Johnson) passed away on September 7th, 2021 in Calgary at the age of 99- her birthday. She was born in Barnwell, Alberta on September 7, 1922, the 9th child of 14 children to Benjamin Franklin Johnson and Zella Park Johnson (nee Allred). Raised on a farm, she was a hard worker and was a riveter on ships during WWII. She had a life long love affair with books and reading. She became a teacher and worked at several schools as an English teacher. She pursued her Masters degree in Library Science at ASU in Tempe, Arizona and ended her 30+ year career with the Calgary School district as a librarian. She also loved traveling, cooking, sewing, shopping, organizing, painting and several kinds of needle work. But most of all, she loved her family. A life long member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Irene is survived by two of her four children: Richard Bruce Cummins of Nevada, and Victoria (Palmer) Otte of Alaska. She had 19 grandchildren, 35 great grand children and 2 great, great grandchildren. She is also survived by her sister, Lola Sharland of Thunder Bay, Ontario. Irene is predeceased by her husband, John Palmer, and her daughters, Patricia (Cummins) Unique and Madonna (Cummins) Leong.