Gilbert Seymour Hammon

April 5, 1915 - February 25, 2016

Gilbert Seymour Hammon was born at home, April the 5th, 1915 at Lynch, Nebraska and passed away on February 25, 2016 at McMinnville, Oregon. He was buried at Crescent Grove Cemetery at Tigard, Oregon on March 1, 2016. His parents were Frank Hammon and Eliza Wellman Hammon. The Hammon family owned a large farm in Nebraska growing grain/grass crops. Gilbert had 14 siblings: 7 brothers and 7 sisters. The Hammon family enjoyed a closeness and all were involved in the hard work of farm life. Gilbert told stories of shooting critters like skunks, and cutting off their tails to take to town and raise money. Of course it did not pay a lot, but the job was half the fun. He experienced the first phone, a party line that all the neighbors loved to listen in on when anyone got a call. His father had the first Ford dealership, and the boys all learned to drive, and learned it was not the same as pulling on the reins to stop a horse. Gilbert had tunnel vision, or retinitis pigmentosa, from an early age. He learned many ways to compensate for poor vision. He used to say, “you go on ahead, and I will follow along behind.” In the early 1930’s, Gilbert rode the railroad box car trains to Oregon, keeping a sharp eye out for the yard bulls who told him “see that road, you get on it and stay off this train.” Well he just watched for the yard bull to leave and got right back on the train. His father gave him $10.00 at the time he left home and he put it in a seam of his overall bib. He got to his destination with the $10.00 intact because every stop the train made; he would go to a town or home and ask for work in exchange for food. His first job in Oregon was breaking horses on a ranch in eastern Oregon. He then got a job in a logging camp, but was hit in the head with a PV pole and landed in the hospital for a few months. Then he went to work for a mill in Lebanon. He met his wife, Marie Q. Benjamin, at a dance in Salem he attended with Sister Mildred and her husband Robert Anderson. Pretty soon, Marie and Gib decided to get married, and they eloped to Vancouver, Washington where there was no waiting period to marry after getting a license. Gib and Marie lived in Lebanon and son Duane Gilbert was born there May 25, 1944. Later, they moved to Tillamook, OR where Gib owned and operated a gas station and tire business. When Marie’s health could not tolerate the damp coastal climate, they moved to Caldwell, Idaho. This did not last long, and then they moved to Eugene, Oregon where Gib got a job at the Bon Marche Russell department store selling appliances and furniture. Every chance they got, Gib and Marie with Duane either took their boat to the Fern Ridge Reservoir and water skied or they camped and fished at many of the lakes in the area. Gib and Marie moved to Honolulu for awhile in the 1960’s, but then relocated back to the Portland area. Gib’s last job was as a custodian for a convalescent home in Milwaukie, Oregon, where he installed a sprinkler system by his own design for the complex. He was always handy with fixing things and enjoyed figuring out what to do. Gib retired at age 62 when he and Marie were living in King City, Oregon. Gib and Marie would winter in Honolulu and come back to the King City area in the spring and summer. Marie passed away July 4, 1996 and Gib stayed in the area, walking Washington Square Mall and playing cribbage. When he started to decline with the onset of dementia, he moved to the coast at Newport, to be near Duane and Berniece. He was living with Duane and Berniece when Duane passed away September 22, 2008. Gib then moved to an adult foster care home in Newberg, and then finally to Osprey Court Memory Care Community in McMinnville, which changed ownership and became Brookdale McMinnville Westside. The staff at Brookdale loved Gib and cared so much for him. They sang “You Are My Sunshine” many times over the years he was living there and many times just before he died. He was placed on Hospice care 5 times over the years at Brookdale, but pulled through every time, until this last time. He died peacefully in the care of Serenity Hospice with the Hospice chaplain at his side. Family had been with him just prior to his death, February 25, 2016. Gib lived a long life; he enjoyed his life and had so many wonderful stories to tell about growing up in Nebraska and South Dakota: Stories of Nando Grimm and falling through the ice on the Missouri River and the Native American camp just across the river. He told of riding the rails with his cousin Russell Hammon to eastern Washington to pick apples and the long, cold journey back on the train to home. He loved adventure and moving. He and Marie moved just about every six months in their retirement years, just so he could fix up a new place. Most of all, he loved to get his tool box out and fix things. He had his tools ever ready and all you had to do was say you would like to have something fixed and he was on it. He will be remembered as a very loving father, grandfather and great-grandfather, Uncle and Brother. Gilbert S. Hammon was predeceased by his wife Marie Q. Hammon, his son, Duane Gilbert Hammon, his parents, 7 sisters and 3 brothers. He is survived by his brother Philip Hammon of Grand Island, Nebraska, Duane Hammon of Kansas, Donald Hammon of Nampa, Idaho, and Eldon Hammon of Ontario, Oregon as well as his daughter-in-law, Berniece Hammon, grandson: Trev Hammon and his wife Lynette, grandson: Brian Hammon, two great-grandchildren: Austen and Cara Hammon. He is further survived by many nieces and nephews in the Hammon family. He is also survived by his sister-in-law, Pauline Benjamin whose husband Joseph predeceased him the 6th of this month, and their family. His sister-in-law Idamay Benjamin also predeceased him. The family would like to especially thank the staff of Brookdale McMinnville Westside, at McMinnville, Oregon for the loving care they each provided over the 7 years Gib lived there. They are all angels who care for our loved ones when we cannot. May God richly and abundantly bless each one of you. We would also like to thank Attrell’s Funeral Home in Newberg, Oregon, particularly, Dennis Marteeny, Funeral Director, for his expertise, professionalism and wonderful kindness. His calm and steady spirit was just the right manner needed at this time. His assistant Terry, who drove Gib from McMinnville to Attrell’s in Newberg, was also very attentive and kind. We also thank Nancy at Crescent Grove Cemetery at Tigard, Oregon for her services and kindness to make the internment of Gib so nice, on a day that was so rainy and blustery, but we were given that special ray of sunshine and a patch of blue sky at just the right moment and a rainbow in the sky as I was driving home.