Tribute to Tony and Mimi Pippel

Tony and Mimi Pippel are about to leave Palmer. Too little has been said about what they have done for our community. I cannot tell the whole story of Tony and Mimi because I have lived in the Palmer area for only 21 years, but I want to share my experience of the Pippels through the years that I have known them.

I do not remember how I first met Tony. I do know that I kept seeing him at the post office. For Tony a trip to the post office was not a simple, quick stop. It was an event. Tony knew everyone and everyone knew Tony. He worked the post office crowd as the great politician that he is. It was at the post office that our friendship really took root. Tony would turn “Hi” into a conversation about Palmer and what Palmer ought to be.

About 14 years ago Tony and I made a pact. Every Wednesday morning at 9 a.m. we would have coffee at Vagabond Blues. Our subject would always be Palmer and the needs of the Palmer community. For an extended time, the meeting was attended by only two, Tony and me. We invited others. The group still gathers every Wednesday morning at 9 a.m. at Vagabond Blues.

The group has never had formal organization. Tony gave us a name. The PARCS Group. It was an acronym for Parks, Arts, Recreation, Culture, Sports. In the best sense, it was Tony’s group. He knew the history of the area. He knew where all the bodies were buried. (Symbolically he has served many years on the Cemetery Board.)

Tony is very smart. He is a voracious reader, especially of history and literature. He educated himself on community planning and especially on new urbanism. Tony can be a bit irreverent at times. He does not suffer fools well. He has always been a man of ideas. Looking back, the Wednesday morning gatherings became Tony’s platform for ideas.

Tony understood from the beginning the importance of the Palmer train depot as a community center. He was the key figure in the major renovation of the depot. Rightfully, his name should be posted somewhere on the building. He understood that the railroad right-of-way was a huge problem that would divide the interests of the community until the right-of-way was made into a connection rather than a barrier. He understood the potential of the “creamery city block.”

The one concrete product of the Wednesday morning group was the production of the PARCS Plan for central Palmer. Tony was the arm-twisting fund raiser for the $20,000 or so that the plan cost. The PARCS Plan remains our most coherent sketch of the possibilities of Palmer as a unique destination community. In fact, the idea of Palmer as a destination community has its strongest roots in the informal Wednesday morning gathering. Credit Tony.

It was out of the weekly gatherings that Tony decided to run for the Palmer City Council. With his post office political base, Tony was unbeatable. Over the past 10 years, Tony has been the strongest, most influential voice on the Palmer City Council. I do not believe he ever acted out of self-interest. He acted out of love for his community. His decision not to run for a fourth term was a huge loss to the community.

Tony was a behind-the-scenes community organizer. He recruited candidates for membership on the credit union board, the MTA board, the city council, the cemetery board and the Palmer planning commission. Kids by the hundred play baseball every summer on fields that Tony engineered. He recruited volunteers of all kinds and twisted the arms of businessmen, service clubs and contractors to get things done. Tony was always embarrassed by recognition. He loved his town and he put himself on the work line constantly. One of my lasting images of Tony will be of him gleaning the local potato fields for the benefit of the Palmer Food Pantry.

There are at least four established not-for-profit organizations that have their roots in the Wednesday morning group. Palmer Arts Council, Radio Free Palmer, Palmer Community Foundation, and Palmer Museum of History and Art. These four organizations will become powerful influences for the good of Palmer for many years to come. None of these would exist without Tony Pippel.

Another of those important things of which people are unaware is Tony’s love for trees. His vision of his beloved town was a town with tree-lined streets. Preferably he wanted them to be flowering trees. Tony made a study of trees around the world that would do well in Palmer. Tony’s and Mimi’s home sat on a very large lot. They dedicated a part of their property to growing trees for the community. Tony bought hundreds of seedlings and started a tree farm. As they matured, he began giving them to the community. The trees now line certain streets. One example is North Valley Way north of Arctic Avenue. Another is Hemmer Road. Future generations will drive along Valley Way and have no idea the story behind the flowering trees that grace the street. He gave trees to individuals as well as to the community at large. Tony would even deliver a prize tree and supervise the planting to make sure the job was done right. I have said nothing about Tony’s involvement in the Palmer Rotary Club. I will leave that to that special group. My only comment is that I suspect that Palmer Rotary will never be the same without Tony. I can only wonder under what category they admitted him to membership.

I have written about Tony, but a word needs to be said about Mimi. Mimi rescued Tony from a misspent life. She has been the great civilizing influence of Tony’s life. Why this classy lady hooked up with the guy in jeans and a dirty T-shirt will remain a mystery, but somehow they go together.

Mimi cut a broad path in the community on her own. She was a successful business woman. She served for several years on the board of United Way and served as president with distinction. She was one of the finest of moms. During the years that she and Tony were raising their two sons, she was on the front lines of school volunteers. She made things happen. She and Tony were elegant hosts in their home for all kinds of gatherings. Tony prepared the food, but Mimi was that gracious lady who made everyone welcome and at home.

Over the past three years Mimi has served as the president of the Palmer Arts Council. It is no easy task to take an arts group from nothing to a viable and treasured community organization. Palmer Arts Council is the legacy of Mimi Pippel.

One last word. I have enjoyed being Tony’s foil. Tony the avowed atheist and Howard, his devout Baptist preacher friend. All through our friendship, he has told me in many ways that he thinks my religion is nuts. Tony would not be Tony if he did not have an opinion. And he is a smart guy too.

I will have a bit of tear in my eye as they drive out of town on a new life journey in Ashland, Ore.

The Rev. Howard Bess is an American Baptist minister living in retirement in Palmer.