Myrtle Kathleen (Kathy) Boberg

In Loving Memory

Myrtle Kathleen Boberg

March 12, 1936 - May 17, 2025

Kathy Boberg, 89, passed away peacefully at the Linda Valley Memory Care Center in Loma Linda, California, on May 17, 2025.

Myrtle Kathleen Eros was born on March 12, 1936, at Swedish Hospital in Seattle, WA, to Erick and Anna (Skjoldli) Eros, immigrants from Norway. The youngest of four children (siblings Orville, Kenneth, and Norma), she was raised in the Madison Park neighborhood of Seattle. At an early age, she learned to play the piano, a passion that remained with her throughout the years. Even when dementia robbed her of many memories, her fingers always remembered how to play. Sit her down at a keyboard and she would immediately launch into "Jesus Loves Me"!

Kathy attended Auburn Adventist Academy, graduating in 1953. She briefly attended Walla Walla College, where she met her first husband, Leonard "Bink" Palmer. They married in 1954 at the Green Lake SDA church. When Bink joined the Army and was posted to the American NATO base in France, Kathy's spirit of adventure led her to take a ship from NYC to Lisbon, Portugal, alone at age 19! Through the good graces of local church members and port officials, she was able to alert Bink to her arrival, and they were able to rendezvous. They lived in La Rochelle, where she sold Renault and Panhard automobiles to US servicemen, the first of many business ventures she attempted.

Bink and Kathy continued their adventures through his graduate and post-graduate studies, spending time in Seattle, Los Angeles (where their sons Theo and Olin were born), Thailand, and Hawaii. When Bink obtained a professorship at Portland State University in 1969, the family established roots in Portland, OR. While there, Kathy completed her BS in Psychology in 1972. She also helped build their first house, learning construction skills that served her well throughout the years.

Kathy, along with her second husband, Mike Armstrong, was involved in the early planning for what eventually became the Weimar Institute in Placer County, CA. This was followed by a stint at Andrews University, where she obtained her MBA in 1982. She then returned to the Portland area, where she ran operations and sales for Olicon Northwest, Inc.

Kathy met Walter Boberg, a lovely Swedish gentleman, at the Loma Linda University Church, and they subsequently married in Sweden in 1986. She picked up the Svenska language, although with a broad American accent, which enabled her to work as a project manager at the former Edeby estate of Sweden's royalty. The ambitious project was to renovate Edeby into an SDA-sponsored Health Conditioning Center. Walter and Kathy split their time between Djursholm, Sweden and Southern California for a few years, but they finally chose to call Redlands, CA, home. They worked together on various business ventures until Walter's untimely death from cancer in 1996.

Kathy remained resilient, eventually moving into the Cellex Inc. demonstration home in Loma Linda, CA; this home was designed by Gabriel Isaia and built with an innovative cellular concrete that Walter and she were developing. In 2003 (at the age of 67!!), Kathy obtained her general contractor's license and spent the next 12 years remodeling homes in the San Bernardino County area. Kathy eventually retired and lived in her home with compassionate care from her friend Patrick Johnson. She then lived with family for a time, but finally moved to the Linda Valley Memory Care Center in her beloved sunny Loma Linda.

Kathy was a devout Seventh Day Adventist and always missionary-minded, whether at home or abroad. From becoming a short-term "student missionary" to Thailand, to helping design and fund the construction of the Arkhangelsk SDA church in Russia, to raising funds for the University of Arusha (Tanzania) library and supporting Ethiopian mission projects for the Tropical Health Alliance Foundation, Kathy was an energetic advocate for God's message of health and healing. At home in Loma Linda, she often hosted Friday evening supper and vespers for the LLU Chinese scholars' group, playing piano for the song service and sharing vegetarian recipes. She was also active in the Scandinavian Club.

Kathy loved her Creator and Savior, cooking for friends, entertaining, traveling to places near and far, listening to music, playing the piano, visiting Home Depot, and sneaking Skittles and Reese's Pieces. She was particularly famous for her hugs!

Kathy is survived by many friends, her son Theo Palmer (with wife, Beth Blackwood; Port Ludlow, WA), granddaughter Kali Palmer (with husband Tam Armstrong; Seattle, WA), son Olin Palmer (Redwood Shores, CA), grandsons Ray and Karsten Palmer (San Carlos, CA), and extended family in the US, Sweden and Norway.

Friends and family are invited to sign the guestbook or share a memory on Legacy.com. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Tropical Health Alliance Foundation in Kathy's memory (https://thaf.org/donate/).

A simple family service will be held at a future date.