April 17, 1937 – May 8, 2025

And did you get what

you wanted from this life, even so?

I did.

And what did you want?

To call myself beloved, to feel myself

beloved on the earth.

Raymond Carver

Our beloved Alice Fay Hammer, wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, great-great grandmother, poet, quilter and amazing woman got what she wanted, in life, and in death. Born in Crocket, California on April 17, 1937, at the end of the Great Depression, Alice grew up learning to take what you are given and make it better. Alice married young and had her first child at age 16. Ten years later, she was a mother of three, living a simple life. But, Alice wanted more. At age 26 she met the love of her life, Richard Hammer. She was still married but had never been in love. Alice got what she wanted, and what she wanted was Richard.

Over the next decade, Alice and Richard expanded their family by three more children. Alice made her very first quilt using an old scalloped curtain and a remnant of fabric. After a few years they moved from California to Washington state. They settled on the old Mary Clark Ranch and took up residence in Mary Clark’s old two story farm house. The lack of power and very little running water didn’t phase Alice. She took that old house and made it better. Richard worked as a merchant seaman and other jobs that kept him away from home for periods of time. Alice learned all about subsistence farming, raising livestock, growing a huge garden and making do. She prepared meals on a wood stove, baking 12 loaves of bread a week. She preserved her well-earned fruits and vegetables, at one point canning over 1,000 jars in a single year.

On 1974, Alice gave birth to her seventh child, a home birth accompanied by Richard and his Chicago PD emergency childbirth handbook and an EverReady flashlight. At that time, the closest medical facility to have a baby was Port Angeles. This was eight months after her first born made her a grandmother. Two years later, Alice and Richard pulled up stakes and moved to Quilcene, Washington, with six kids in tow. The single-wide trailer we were all packed into was small but mom got what she wanted. The three-hole outhouse out back wasn’t bad either. Having lived without power and a small supply of running water for so long, Alice didn’t feel the need for a change. She grew another huge garden, harvested fruit from and old homestead orchard nearby, and preserved hundreds of jars of food every year. She continued to cook on a wood stove, baking fresh bread every week. She learned to be a seamstress, lovingly hand stitching clothing and quilts for her brood. She had two more children. The first, was another home birth and her very last child was born at the Port Townsend Hospital, before which she finally took a child birthing class to ‘see if she was doing it right.’ She ended up helping the nurses teach the class. By 1980, Alice was mother to nine children. She didn’t drive and relied on public transit so she joined the Jefferson County Transit board. She joined the Quilcene Community Center committee and was chairman of the first annual Quilcene Fair in 1983. She was a Boy Scout and Girl Scout troop leader. She was in charge of the first annual Linger Longer Run. She and Richard hiked the Olympics and fished in Alaska. She was done having kids and had come into her own.

By 1986, she decided she want to go back to school and she wanted a driver’s license. Alice got what she wanted. She packed up the four kids who were still living at home and moved to Port Angeles, WA. Richard was on a research ship in the Arctic so missed out on that move. She attended Peninsula College, graduating in 1988 at age 51 with an Associate of Art degree and a certificate in early childhood education (pausing for laughter.) It was during this time that Alice began honing another talent: Poetry. She became a prolific writer, using poetry to preserve the many memories of her unconventional life.

In 1991, Alice and Richard purchased their home on Bear Creek Road, a couple of miles from the Mary Clark Ranch. There she finished raising the last of her three children and cared for those around her. Her quilting hobby became a full time job as grandchildren and great grandchildren started arriving faster than she could sew. Any child who met her became one of Nanny’s Kids and she had just enough wild stories to shock them all. She surrounded herself with books, nature children and love. On May 8, 2025, she departed into the great unknown. She got what she wanted out of this life. She was beloved on this earth, and beyond.

A Celebration of Life is planned for Saturday July 12, 2025 at 1 p.m. at the Rainforest Arts Center, 35 N. Forks Avenue, Forks, WA 98331. Potluck Reception to Follow.