Louise K. Hammer

Louise K. Hammer, 95, passed away Sunday, May 12, 2019, at Good Samaritan Society. She was born March 11, 1924, in Hellertown, Pa., to Daniel and Caroline Spadt Kohler. She graduated from Liberty High School in Bethlehem, Pa., in 1941, and worked as a secretary for three years. During WWII, one of her positions was at Bethlehem Steel Company, which made bomb casings for the war. She married Donald Price Hammer on May 26, 1947. In 1948, she received a Bachelor of Science in Education from Kutztown State College in Kutztown, Pa. She received her Master of Library Science in 1955 from George Peabody College for Teachers in Nashville. She worked as an assistant librarian in the undergraduate library at the University of Illinois in Urbana from 1956-1957. In the years that followed, she was a reference librarian at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., and was a research librarian at the Wabash Valley Education Center in West Lafayette, Ind. From 1966-1972, she worked as an assistant professor of education at Purdue University, where she taught courses in the graduate and undergraduate media section in the department of education. She and her husband moved to Wheeling, IL, for his work with the American Library Association in downtown Chicago. In their younger years, they enjoyed traveling to almost every state and to several countries. They enjoyed attending the lyric opera and always took visitors to area art and science museums and zoos. They were active members of Buffalo Grove Baptist Church, where she was the church’s librarian. They valued education and never stopped wanting to learn new things. She was a member of the American Library Association, Beta Phi Mu and Kappa Delti Pi. She moved to Mountain Home in 2010 to be closer to family.

She is survived by one son, Donald (Susie) Hammer of Mountain Home; grandchildren, David Hammer of Columbia, Ill., and Joanne (Justin) Bratton of Mountain Home; great-grandchildren, Julia and Joseph Bratton, and nephews, Paul (Lillian) Geib and Barry Geib.

She was preceded in death by her parents and husband. Funeral Services will be private. Burial will be in the Laureldale Cemetery, Reading, Pennsylvania.

Arrangements are by Kirby and Family Funeral and Cremation Services - Mountain Home, Arkansas.