Isabelle S. Palmer left a legacy to her community that will honor her husband, M. Meade Palmer for decades to come. Her family recently presented a $375,000 gift to the Northern Piedmont Community Foundation to establish the M. Meade Palmer Endowed Fund to recognize and remember his commitment as a tireless volunteer and a gifted landscape architect. Mrs. Palmer died in April of 2005.

Established to support charitable causes in the community, the fund will encourage the level of citizenship so amply evidenced by Palmer's life.

"We are honored to receive such a wonderful gift to help the community, said Elizabeth Henrickson, executive director of the NPCF. "We are gratified by the Palmer's generosity."

Palmer was an accomplished and talented landscape architect who opened a private practice in Warrenton in 1948. He focused his work primarily in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC. Some of his notable projects include: Lyndon Baines Johnson Memorial Grove, Washington, DC; State office building and Governor's House, Annapolis, Maryland; Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia; Woodrow Wilson Parkway, Staunton, Virginia; Bull Run Regional Park, Fairfax, Virginia; Sky Meadows State Park, Fauquier County, Virginia; Great Meadow Steeple Chase Course, The Plains, Virginia; Veterans Memorial, Warrenton, Virginia; Monticello, Charlottesville, Virginia; Valentine Museum, Richmond, Virginia; National Cathedral, Washington, DC; James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia; George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia; and the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia.

He was an actively involved community volunteer serving as Chair of the Fauquier County, Virginia Planning Commission; Zoning Administrator for Fauquier County, Virginia; and delegate to the Conservation Council of Virginia.

Palmer was a member of the Virginia Outdoors Recreation Study Commission; Lord Fairfax Community College Advisory Committee; National Park Service, Mid-Atlantic Region Advisory Committee; National Trust for Historic Preservation; Fauquier Veterans Memorial Committee, Warrenton, Virginia; and the American Horticultural Society.

The Northern Piedmont Community Foundation is a public charity established in 2001. Over 700 community foundations exist in the United States, with 27 in Virginia. For more information, contact Elizabeth Henrickson at 540-349-0631 or P.O. Box 182, Warrenton, Virginia 20188.