Her dream was to attend The University of Texas at Austin, but her high school counselor and her parents decided she should begin at a small school because she was used to being a big fish in a small pond. So, she applied to and was accepted at Texas College of Arts and Industries (Texas A&I) in Kingsville. She had intentions of transferring to UT after a year, but that didn’t happen. She got a job in the infirmary and settled into school work, dorm life and the university experience. She was accepted into the Gold Jackets Honor Society which was an honorary woman's sorority for leadership and scholarship. She was also a member of Beta Gamma Sorority where she served as treasurer. Lela graduated cum laude in December 1963, but didn’t get to walk the stage until May 1964.

Lela moved to Poteet to live with her grandmother and was hired by Poteet ISD in January 1964, as a third grade teacher. In February, she went to Pleasanton with a friend and was introduced to Wilbur Palmer. They hit it off well and were married a short three months later on May 30, 1964. She was hired by Pleasanton ISD in the fall of 1966 and taught in Leming for a year before settling into first grade at Pleasanton. In January 1966, her and Wilbur’s first daughter, Leigh, was born, and in November 1968, their second daughter, Audra, was born. Lela continued teaching first grade until health issues required her to retire in 1980.

With one daughter already at The University of Texas and the other daughter beginning there in the fall of 1987, Lela wanted to go back to teaching. She was re-hired by Pleasanton ISD as the Homebound teacher for the district. For twenty years, Lela was the only Homebound teacher for the entire district at all levels K-12. She was required to visit each student at their home, every day. There were many times she would have 10+ students enrolled in the program which she saw on a daily basis, traveling to each home within the district’s boundaries, amounting to as much as 70 miles a day. In 2007, the program changed and Lela became the Homebound Facilitator; coordinating three other teachers as well as remaining the elementary teacher for the program.

Over the course of a combined 35 years teaching, Lela has had a remarkable impact on the lives of many children.They in turn, have had a lasting impression on Lela, as well. As a first grade teacher, Lela had the pleasure of molding the minds of many children, teaching them to read, write and add. There was one student that Lela will never forget. He was a Korean boy that was put in her class and didn’t speak English, nor did his parents. After a year of instruction, parent teacher conferences with interpreters, and meetings with administrators, the young boy was fluent in English. Upon his graduation from PHS, where he was ranked third, he wrote a very dear letter to Lela expressing his gratitude to her for teaching him to read and write. That letter is precisely why Lela teaches. She knows that, regardless of letters or expressions of gratitude, she has made a difference in a child s life.

As the Homebound teacher, Lela has experienced teaching on a completely different level. Venturing out, into the homes of students has been an experience, to say the least. She has encountered some desperately poor situations, some dangerous situations and some truly shocking situations. However, what they all have in common is a student in need of an education. Lela has become very attached to some of her students and has cried many a tear at the loss of some due to cancer or muscular dystrophy, yet rejoiced at the recovery of others. Venturing into the homes of children has allowed Lela to realize her importance as a teacher. Without an education, some of these children would have no chance in the world and Lela makes sure that an education is what they receive. She has fought to keep many of these children in the school system, despite overwhelming odds against some of them. She encourages, strengthens and educates them because of her love of teaching and children.

When not at her teaching job, Lela helps run WALL S with her husband, Wilbur. Together, they enjoy attending their grandchildren’s various activities and spending time with family and friends. Wilbur and Lela have been married almost 46 years and have a marvelous family consisting of daughter Leigh and husband Dan Arguijo and their two daughters, Cierra and Micaela and their daughter Audra and husband James Locke and their children, Linzey and Preston Weden and Trip and William Locke. They also dote on their one-year-old puppy, Paddi.