Alice G. Palmer, Champion of Immigrants, Dies
Diocesan Press Service. May 6, 1964 [XXI-5]
Alice G. Palmer, for 30 years the champion of immigrants, died in New York on April 10. The brisk, blue-eyed, stocky little woman had during the course of her career rescued thousands of men, women and children from stagnation, frustration and the threat of deportation.
Alice Palmer began her work among immigrants at Ellis Island in New York harbor in 1930. She guided them through the intricacies of United States laws and represented them before the Port and Immigration Commission. Following World War II, many seamen who had become stranded or had jumped ship in New York ran afoul of the law. They had taken jobs ashore, married American girls and settled down with their families. Often they had no passports and could not prove proper entry.
Miss Palmer fought for these people with compassion, intelligence and a tenacity which impressed officialdom. Each of her cases involved interviews - often needing an interpreter, affidavits, correspondence, and almost endless requests for information, frequently from hostile governments. Alice Palmer's proudest and happiest days were those when she stood as a witness when her new friends were sworn in as American citizens.
A requiem Eucharist was celebrated and the burial office said for Alice G. Palmer at Trinity Church, Broadway and Wall Street, New York City - within sight and sound of the great harbor she had loved.
Miss Palmer's work constituted the Port and Immigration Department of the Episcopal Mission Society of New York, and she was sponsored by Trinity Church and by the Episcopal Churchwomen of the Diocese of New York. The Episcopal Mission Society has set up an Alice Palmer Memorial Fund, and the Episcopal Churchwomen are planning a memorial to her pioneer spirit and gallant work in the name of the Church.