Dr. Barbara Palmer

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, July 17, 2007

NATCHEZ — Services for Dr. Barbara Lynn Palmer, 51, of Natchez, who died Friday, July 13, 2007, at University Medical Center, in Jackson, will be 10 a.m. Wednesday at Natchez First Baptist Church with the Rev. Dennis Flach officiating.

Burial will follow at Greenlawn Memorial Cemetery under the direction of Laird Funeral Home.

Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. today at the funeral home and from 9 a.m. until service time Wednesday at the church.

Dr. Palmer was born Sept. 14, 1955, in Shreveport. She was a longtime resident of Natchez and a board certified family practice physician. She graduated from Southwood High School, in Shreveport, in 1973 and received a bachelor’s degree in education and zoology from Louisiana College in 1978. She received her medical doctor’s degree from Louisiana State University Medical Center School of Medicine in 1986. Following medical school, she completed a family practice residency at Earl K. Long Hospital in Baton Rouge. Among many community activities, she was a former chief of staff at Natchez Community Hospital, a past board member of the Natchez Opera Festival and an award winning cheese artisan of Homestead Goat Cheeses. She was a founding member of New Covenant Presbyterian Church. Her love of Jesus Christ and service to others led her on several mission trips to Peru.

Survivors include her husband, Dr. Marshall Hawkins of Natchez; her daughter, Lindsey Broxson of Pensacola, Fla.; her mother, Lois E. Palmer of Shreveport; brothers, LTC Howard Palmer and wife, Beth, of Denton, Texas and Leland Palmer and wife, Sue, of Pollock, La.; and nephew, Howard Palmer III of Denton.

In lieu of flowers, memorials gifts may be made to the Natchez Children’s Home or the Adams County Humane Society.