Life story
March 14, 1991
Born in Maine Waterville on March 14, 1991.
November 3, 2007
CANAAN -- A 16-year-old Andover girl following her schoolmates to a leadership conference was killed Saturday morning when a van crashed into a small bus, and then hit her car head-on.
Dorothy Palmer died at the scene of the accident on U.S. Route 2, near the Sibley Pond bridge, according to State Police Trooper Bruce Scott.
Scott said that a small School Administrative District 44 bus out of Bethel was headed east, bound for Nokomis Regional High School in Newport. There were four students and a teacher on the bus in addition to the driver, he said.
Stephen Carter, 49, of Whitefield was driving west in his van, Scott said. Carter reached for a handkerchief he had dropped and crossed the center line, sideswiping the bus and then slamming head-on into Palmer's car, Scott said.
Both the bus and the van overturned and came to a rest on their sides, Scott said.
Bus driver Tommy Sweetser of Bethel, teacher Jennifer Bennett, 36, of Bethel and the four students were treated for minor injuries and released from Redington-Fairview General Hospital in Skowhegan, Scott said. The passengers were Thomas Henley, Mathew Lauro, Elizabeth Forkus and Amy Farrington.
Carter also was treated and released from the hospital, Scott said.
No decision has been made on charges. The crash report will be forwarded to the Somerset County district attorney's office for review, once it is completed.
November 3, 2007
Passed away on November 3, 2007.
November 6, 2007
November 6, 2007 5:00 AM
The Hot Corner: Rebels with a cause
Today should have been a great day to wake up and be a student at Telstar Regional High School.
Every class was destined to be a glorified study hall, and the entire afternoon a pep rally before somebody symbolically hit the lights and hopped in the last vehicle on the caravan to Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland.
That's the scene of tonight's Class C field hockey championship game. It should have been a rallying point for the foothill communities that comprise the proud Telstar community. It should have been a night these student-athletes, their families and friends will never forget.
It is all those things, but now for reasons none of us can comprehend.
Dorothy-Dawn "Dee-Dee" Palmer, 16 and with a list of life accomplishments that already shamed too many of us with twice as many years under our belt, died Saturday as the result of automobile accident.
Among her many commitments to school, faith and community, Dee-Dee was a member of the field hockey program that won the Western Maine championship on Oct. 24.
Saturday's storm postponed the Class C state final between the Telstar Rebels and Foxcroft Academy Ponies for the second straight week. Never one to sit idly, Palmer took advantage of the opportunity to follow her school's bus to a leadership conference in Newport that day. She planned to visit the University of Maine campus before returning home.
Why someone so bright and with such an indisputable future never made it back is something even those of us who believe in a merciful, omnipotent God find impossible to explain at this time. Or ever.
Dee-Dee's death raises a hundred questions that can never be answered by our finite minds. I believe we serve her memory and our own souls best if we consider the important ones.
For instance, where does sports really rank on our list of priorities in life?
Hey, I'm guilty as charged. I've been wearing at least one piece of Boston Red Sox apparel every day for more than a month. I put something in print that infuriates somebody roughly once a week. I yell at Skip Bayless or Stephen A. Smith on my TV at least six times a day.
And none of it matters.
Sunday morning was supposed to be a day of rest and revelry in preparation for this week's NFL Game of the Millennium. Then I picked up the newspaper and felt the front page headlines about Dee-Dee Palmer's accident and marathon runner Ryan Shay's sudden death pierce my heart.
Are you spending as much time investing in the lives of your spouse, significant other or children as you're pouring into the games and teams you worship? Me either. And that has to change, even for those of us who inexplicably have the privilege of covering fun and games for a living.
That said, there is always an appreciable amount of hand-wringing about how much of a role sports should play in our grieving process. It was a talking point after 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina.
While we're dealing with a less global tragedy here, it's a much more important question. The trials, temptations and challenges of being a teenager seem sufficient without the specter of a game clouding likely the most traumatic event in their lives to date.
That was my first response and gut feeling about tonight. Why not declare co-champions and be done with a game that seemingly isn't meant to be played? Nobody from Bethel or Dover-Foxcroft or all points between would begrudge the Telstar girls that compromise.
But then I thought of Dee-Dee Palmer sweating out those August practices while the sun beat down on that infamous hill overlooking her school. And of her sharing in the sparkling cider celebration after every regional playoff victory.
Sometimes it sounds absurd when we put words in the mouth of the departed, insisting that they would want us to do this or do that in their memory. But I can't help but believe it's invariably true.
I never met Dee-Dee Palmer, but I've had enough conversations with her teammates and known enough scholar-athletes over the years to understand the passion and commitment they put into their sports.
And so I will set out this afternoon with the rest of Telstar delegation, trying to ignore the pit in my stomach for at least an hour while watching a group of girls play for the love of a game and the love of a friend.
One who is already a champion in the next life.
My heart is with the Palmer and Hall families and the Telstar community, tonight and in the challenging days to come.
