Rita Hammack

My mother was born in Troy, Kansas (a small town known as the Apple City because of the numerous orchards in Northeastern Kansas) a few miles across the Missouri River from St. Joseph, Missouri, and less than fifteen miles from Denton, Kansas, where her grandfather Isaac Denton and his brothers, after immigrating from England in the mid-1800s, laid out the city in 1886.

Although she was named Mary Margaret, as a young child when asked for her name she replied, “Mary Margarita,” and thus she has been called Rita by her family and friends since that time.

She attended school in Troy and St. Joseph before traveling to Oregon to visit her brother’s family. During World War II, she worked for several organizations in Portland relating to the war and was working in the office for Kaiser, the shipbuilder, when the war ended. She then continued her education at Vanport College, which later became Portland State College.

My mother met Captain Brice Hammack in 1945 while he was in Portland on terminal leave from the Army Air Corp. They were married in 1948 and by 1957 they were a family of four—Marsha born in 1953 and Brice Robert born in 1957. 

Now it was time to concentrate on family, so she devoted her time to attending functions with my father and to supporting the children’s activities, such as acting as Camp Fire Leader, Little League scorekeeper, Sunday school teacher, and driver to lessons and activities of all kinds.

As the following information shows, nearly everything my mother did became a learning experience. After her children entered school, she returned to Portland State University to acquire the remaining credits needed for a BA in Psychology and a MA in English while continuing to support the family—making certain she was home when they were home. 

When her children entered college, she accepted a position as an instructor in the English Department of a small, local college. After she was promoted to Assistant Professor, she planned and conducted a literary tour of England (with assistance from the college president and a drama teacher) for a group of forty students. 

Following early retirement, she volunteered in several areas at the same time: twelve years for Oregon Historical Society, five years as a SHIBA volunteer for the State of Oregon, sixteen years for West Slope Community Library, and four years for the Neurological Sciences Institute, as well as in various areas of Valley Presbyterian Church.

During this “free” time, she also worked as a freelance needlework designer. Her work appeared in national magazines, such as Crafts and McCall’s Needlework. 

Having learned to make and repair books and to make and marble paper while volunteering in the Conservation Department of Oregon Historical Society, she continued her interest by active membership in Oregon Book Arts Guild and by traveling to England on several occasions for instruction in leather binding and gold tooling. Her work has been shown in various exhibits. She purchased a small printing press and learned to handset type well enough to print cards and small booklets. She also purchased one of the early Macintosh computers, taught herself various software programs, and self-published and sold a book entitled Anyone Can Make a Book.

With her husband (sometimes including her children), she has traveled widely—including a brief visits related to the book arts—the Conservation Departments of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the J. P. Morgan Library in New York City, the British Museum in London, and binderies in Scandinavia, Italy, Greece, Alaska, and France.

While the children were in elementary school, the family traveled across the United States to Canada, Alaska, and Hawaii—turning each trip into a learning experience. As the children grew older, the family continued to travel throughout the world, not on scheduled tours but rather by staying in bed-and-breakfast homes so that they could more easily get to know the people and their culture.

During her sixty-year marriage to my father, my mother designed the house plans for the six homes they lived in—learning to draw the blueprints by studying architectural books in the library and by examining other house plans. She also sewed nearly everything for her home and family.

Her children have completed their education (Marsha has a degree in English and Law and resides in Portland; Brice Robert has a degree in English and Art and resides in New York City) and have continued to travel as work and health permits. My mother is now concentrating more on the local scene—using her computer to produce miniature books and continuing to be active in volunteer work and in study groups—currently studying world affairs.

Written and lovingly submitted by daughter Marsha Hammack