Mary Elizabeth Smith Hamm – Obituary

Mary Elizabeth Smith Hamm, born May 7, 1925 in Stantonville, Tennessee, was the third child of McKinley and Lettye Burks Smith. She attended Moores School House and Ramer School until the family moved to Marked Tree, Arkansas, midterm of her junior year in high school. After graduating from Marked Tree High School and Draughns Business College, Elizabeth began her career at Olivier Finney in Memphis, TN. A. B. Hamm & Co., of Ramer, bought from Olivier Finney, and she would include a note to her childhood boyfriend, Joe Hamm, in orders being shipped to Ramer. Joe and Elizabeth were married in l948 and lived a life of love and devotion to each other.

Mrs. Hamm was active in the alumni association of Ramer High School, served as treasurer for the Ramer Cemetery Fund and was a past councilwoman for the City of Ramer. In recent years she compiled histories of the Ramer School, Ramer post office, Big Hill Pond State Park and was working on the history of A. B. Hamm & Company (l876-1977). Mrs. Hamm was a seamstress for Martin Manufacturing and Levi Strauss in Ramer before her retirement. She was a member of Mt. Vernon Cumberland Presbyterian Church and an ordained Cumberland Presbyterian elder.

Mrs. Hamm is survived by her husband of 66 years, Joseph Eugene Hamm; daughter, Jacque Hamm May (Jim May), of Candler, NC; son, Nelson Eugene Hamm (Patsy Taylor), of Ramer, TN; two granddaughters, Elizabeth Hamm May-West (Susan May-West) of Asheville, NC; Alexandria Jane Hamm (Charles Arutt), of Nashville, TN; and her beloved nieces and nephews.

In addition to her parents, Mrs. Hamm was preceded by her son, Joseph Robert Hamm, in l998; three siblings; Inetha Wardlow, Ludene Wray and Nelson Smith: and her in-laws, Eugene and Ila McAlpin Hamm. She was also preceded by her childhood friend, Billye Dye Marr, September 20, 2014.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Ramer Cemetery Fund, PO Box 68, Ramer, TN., 38367.