OBITUARY: Longtime Brevard Resident Nadine Palermo, 95, Passed Away Peacefully Feb. 28 at Home Surrounded by Family
By Space Coast Daily // March 3, 2023
celebration of life and interment will be held at Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell on March 17
BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – Thirty-eight-year resident of North Cocoa, Florida, Nadine Palermo died peacefully at home surrounded by her family on February 28, 2023, eight days after her 95th birthday.
Originally from Howes Mill, Missouri, Nadine was born on February 20, 1928, and was one of six children born to Earnest and Barbara Short.
A member of the Greatest Generation, she moved from rural Dent County, Missouri, with her sister to St. Louis in 1944 to assist the war effort by building aircraft for the military.
Nadine met the love of her life, Vincent “Jimmy” Palermo, in St Louis shortly after Jimmy returned from Europe after the war, and they married in November 1946. An accomplished seamstress, after raising four children, she ventured into the retail business, spending 17 years at JC Penney as a sewing machine and major appliance expert and educator.
She and her husband, “Jimmy,” moved to Florida in 1986 to retire and be close to two of their sons’ families. She loved gardening, antique collecting, and spending quality time with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Nadine is preceded in death by her husband, “Jimmy,” mother, Barbara, father, Earnest, brother, Norman, and sisters, Carmen Berra and Donna Hedley. She is survived by her sisters Bonnie Morse of Clayton, Missouri, Mary Lou Nichoalds of Baldwin, Missouri, daughter Toni Palermo, of San Diego, California, son Dr. Jim Palermo and his wife Kerry of Merritt Island, son Douglas Palermo of Santa Fe, New Mexico, son Tom Palermo of Merritt Island, grandson Joe Palermo of Merritt Island, granddaughters Michelle Lewis of Cocoa, Alicia Palermo of Virginia Beach, Virginia, Sara Palermo of Tampa, Samantha Palermo of Merritt Island, grandson Anthony Moran of Orlando and great-grandchildren Mason and Madison Palermo and Glade, Forest and Reed Lewis.
A celebration of life will be held at the Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell on Friday, March 17, at 12:30 p.m., with interment next to her beloved Jimmy, who died in Dec. 2010, immediately following.
A long-time generous supporter of Shriner’s Hospitals for Children and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Nadine requested that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to either of those organizations.
