Concordia Seminary Newsroom
Blueprints for a Faithful Future
Joann Palmer has built her giving on intentional planning, gratitude and faith, making her generosity part of a larger structure that endures. Through her annual unrestricted support, she joins with others in a shared effort to strengthen the Seminary — a community building together, like living stones, to raise up the church’s future leaders.
“I grew up on a farm near Wentzville, Mo., with my mother, father and sister,” Palmer says. She began first grade in a one-room rural school and later attended Wentzville public school and Immanuel Lutheran School. After high school she studied elementary education at the University of Missouri-Columbia, where she met her husband on a blind date.
She married in 1966 and continued teaching in Lawton, Okla., while her husband was stationed at Fort Sill. After his Army service, he worked for PPG Industries. During his 25 years with the company, the family moved five times. “At each location we were blessed to actively participate in a Lutheran church and have a faith community led and nurtured by a dedicated pastor,” Palmer says. Their two children were able to begin their education in a Lutheran school in Texas.
After battling cancer for several years, Palmer’s husband passed away in 1996. Several months later, her son, Kevin — then teaching at a Lutheran school in New York City — called to ask what she would think if he changed his career. “His major was history but he was teaching several religion classes that were challenging him to dig deeper into theology,” she says.
Palmer recalls how the family’s pastors influenced his decision. “The faithful visits of pastors during his father’s illness, the support given during the family’s journey through grief, and his current teaching experience were undoubtedly God nudging and directing him for that career change,” she says. He enrolled at Concordia Seminary and graduated in 2001.
He was serving a church in Indiana when he passed away suddenly from a heart condition. “His love for the Seminary and his appreciation of his training and education motivated me to contact the Seminary when I was able to make an IRA qualified charitable distribution,” Palmer says.
Palmer says her gifts are a direct expression of thanksgiving for the ways God has worked in her life. “With praise to God and heartfelt thanks for the many ways pastors had been the hands and feet of the Lord to bring support and love to my life, I wanted to say thank you,” she says.
That gratitude has shaped how she plans her charitable giving. By making qualified charitable distributions part of her financial routine, she ensures her gifts serve both practical and spiritual purposes. The practice not only benefits her personally as a wise use of her retirement resources but also provides sustainable support for the Seminary’s mission.
“The end of the year is a good time to look back as well as look forward and be proactive,” she says. “Think about giving before Tax Day comes!”
In addition to planned year-end giving, Palmer finds joy in participating in Giving Tuesday as a match challenger. This role allows her to pledge a certain amount in advance, encouraging others to give by knowing their gifts will be matched dollar-for-dollar until the challenge amount is met.
“I am happy to be part of Giving Tuesday, hoping that matching funds will encourage others to think of the impact of doubling their gift,” she says. “It is a way of giving more no matter the financial situation.”
For Palmer, being a match challenger is more than a financial commitment — it is a way to inspire others to join in supporting the Seminary. She recognizes that many people are motivated when they know their gifts will be amplified. By stepping forward with her own challenge, she helps create a sense of partnership and momentum that multiplies the impact of every dollar given.
Palmer says the Seminary’s 2025–26 academic theme, “Christ the Living Stone … Building Us Together,” is especially meaningful because she views her gifts as part of something larger than herself. “As a donor, I can make a commitment to have a personal mission to build God’s kingdom through the Seminary’s work, educating students to be the future builders of God’s kingdom.”