6/29/1927 - 10/24/2019
Marjorie Lou Hammond, 92, wife of the late Dr. Stanley M. Hammond died
peacefully on October 24 in Fort Worth, Texas.
She was born on June
29, 1927 in Portland, Indiana to Benjamin Wade Hawkins and Mabel Thomas
Hawkins, the youngest of three daughters.
Marjorie Lou received her
BA in music from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey in 1949.
In 1963 she and her family moved to Michigan City, Indiana where she quickly
became active in the music program at First Presbyterian Church. She served
as rehearsal accompanist, organist, harpsichordist and chorister in the
annual production of “Messiah” for most of the past 55 years. Mrs. Hammond
performed regularly with area chamber music groups and volunteered in high
school plays and music classes. She was an avid concertgoer whose love of
music followed her everywhere, and greatly enjoyed travel with her husband
and children.
An accomplished homemaker and devoted mother with a
pervasive sense of humor, Marjorie was often the first to laugh, especially
if the joke was on her.
As a founding member of the Save the Dunes
Foundation, Marge was a fervent conservationist. She was also a long time
and active member of the Nature Conservancy, Service League, an original
charter member of DF chapter of PEO, active in the Michigan City Garden
Club, the Jay County Historical Society, and was a seventy year member of
the DAR.
Marjorie is survived by her children, the Rev. Timothy B.
Thomas (wife Marguerite) of Flagler Beach, FL, Benjamin W. Thomas (wife
Susette) of Austin, TX and Rebekah Thomas Natale (husband Bruce) of
Arlington, TX, their half brothers Chris Thomas, Carl Thomas and Mike
Thomas, grandchildren Kathryn Natale, Teresa Anne Schanbaum. In her last
years Marjorie Lou lived in a retirement community near her daughter and son
in law who devoted themselves to her care.
A memorial service for
Marjorie Lou will be held in the First Presbyterian Church in Michigan City
on Wednesday November 20 at 11:00 AM. Interment will be in the Green Park
Cemetery in Portland. In lieu of flowers memorials can be made to Symphony
Arlington in memory of Marjorie Hammond would be greatly appreciated.
Baird-Freeman Funeral Home are in charge of local arrangements
Baird-Freeman Funeral Home; November 20, 2019
Contributed by
Jim Cox
Buried in Green Park Cemetery