Doug Palmer’s Clouds
Doug Palmer was an early guest at The Gathering Place. A gentle man, he taught art here, as well as at Sweetser’s Learning and Recovery Center on Mere Point Road in Brunswick.
Whether oil, watercolors, pastels or pencil drawings, Palmer “had such talent,” said Nancy Herk, Executive Director of Brunswick Area Respite Care.“He could just create beautiful artwork.” When you were around him, said Chick Carroll, President of The Gathering Place and also a volunteer, “you knew you were around something special.”
During his adulthood he endured mental illness and the side effects of medications meant to control it. In spite of this, Doug was well known in the community, often through his painting, drawing, photography, love of gardening and expertise in botany which he had studied in college.
Over time these side effects caused tremors in his hands and legs that kept him from doing many of the things he loved. He never told anyone how bad it had become. He grew increasingly despondent and one Sunday morning in March 2013, Doug took his life in a fall from the Joshua Chamberlain Bridge between Topsham and Brunswick.
His memory will live in our hearts and the paintings he left to us. The focus of the following stories is about the people who are still here, still writing, and still sharing but we begin with the following tributes to Doug in gratitude for his life and contributions to The Gathering Place.