Eddie Hammons; Kathie Hammons; interviews

Well the world has handed us some losses this year and here I am back having to talk with you again on losing one of our cherished family members — and one of my most loyal blog readers as well! Our cousin Eddie Hammons was felled by Parkinson’s Disease this weekend and will be missed by all of us in his close and extended family.

I’ve talked before in one of my posts about how our families came to know each other and how it was an instant connection for both sides. It was our good fortune to spend many an occasion with Eddie and Kathie and their kids over the years.

And speaking of good fortune, it was my extremely good luck — in fact, I sort of have elevated that to divine intervention actually — to have recently asked Eddie and Kathie to be my next interview on the blog. I wanted to do a couple and I like to bring you all a good mix of variety in who we get to know better and they seemed like the perfect choice. I am so thankful that I made the request, that they agreed and that I have this interview to share with you that helps show what a nice, talented man we have lost from this current life experience we are all sharing together. Kathie is doing the reporting on most of this here but they conferred on things and she is great on filling in all the details of their life together. Thanks very much Kathie.

Hi you two! I’m so excited to be getting to do this little “chat” with you. Thanks so much for agreeing to be part of the blog talks — and my first couple to interview. Like usual, I’d like to start with having you tell everyone who you are, where you live and how you know me. We first met you and your wonderful family at your parents home in Washington. Our friends and mutual relatives, Shirley and Martin Torok got us all together. Shirley and Martin were traveling in their RV and we were in our motor home at Lake Pleasant RV Park in Bothell, WA. We were invited to a wonderful meal of salmon, red potatoes (sorry that’s all I can remember that we ate) — all of it delicious. It took us awhile to remember you girls names and which husband (fiance in Jen’s case) belonged to who.

Hey I swear there was more than one time I heard my parents go through all three of our names before they got to the right one! Usually though, it was connected to some chore or something we tried to skip out on. : ) So we met you originally up here in the Seattle area but you live in California. Where abouts and for how long? I was born in Escondido, CA (25 miles north of San Diego) and Eddie was born in Rupert, ID and then moved to Escondido with his family at around 9 years old. We met in high school.

Ever lived anywhere else? We were married when Eddie was drafted into the Army during the Korean Conflict and took his basic training at Fort Belvoir, VA. I rented a room in Alexandria, VA which is close by the Army base. After basic training Eddie was stationed at First Army Headquarters at Governor’s Island, NY which is just off the tip of Manhattan. We lived on Staten Island, NY for a time until early one foggy morning the Staten Island ferry Eddie was on collided with a freighter. Holey moley! We both had to take the ferry to our jobs. I was on a later ferry so wasn’t involved in the crash. After that we moved to Brooklyn, NY. That involved subway rides to lower Manhattan for both of us to our jobs. After Eddie’s separation from the Army we moved back to Escondido. I was pregnant with our first son Ron at the time and the doctor didn’t want me riding in a car cross country so I got to fly and Eddie drove to California. We raised our children in Escondido and moved to San Marcos (the next town over) when our youngest was in high school. We have lived in the same house in San Marcos since 1976.

New York City! How cool is that? See, that is what I absolutely love about these interviews because everyone has a story and even when I think I know everything there is to know, I find out great new things! So I know you raised three wonderful boys — Ron, Rusty and Randy — and a lovely daughter — Patty and now they all have had children as well. How many grandchildren — and great grandchildren are in your family group these days? I’m not sure I’ve kept up. Ron and Nancy have two daughters and three grandkids, Patti has two sons, who aren’t married yet, Rusty has two daughters and two grandkids, and Randy (we lost unexpectedly two years ago) and Patty Lynn have two daughters and one son, all of them not married.

You are both long retired now, enjoying the good life : ) , what did you do as a career? Eddie worked as a Linotype Operator for a local newspaper for many years. Later he worked for the local county water district ending up as Superintendent. After the kids were grown, I worked for the City of San Marcos in Finance and later worked for the City of Vista, first in Finance and then changed to Human Resources.

What about early in your retirement? When you first were free of a fixed schedule, what did you do with your time? Well, Eddie retired a year before I did. It was good to come home and have supper ready, but Eddie didn’t like me still working. For five years after I retired the City kept calling me back to work on various projects for periods of time until Eddie finally got tired of it and booked a trip for us on the Durango, Colarado train ride. That was the end of my working but the extra money had come in handy.

What turned out to be the best part of retirement? A lot of motor home travel (and by other means) to see our three boys and their families who then lived in Bothell,WA; Elko,NV and Wauseon, OH. We were lucky to see a lot of this wonderful USA.

I know because of health setbacks, the last few years have been challenging, but prior to that, or even now, did you have hobbies you liked spending time on? Eddie enjoyed painting oil paint pictures. We have them decorating our home. He also enjoyed hunting deer and elk and fresh water fishing. I liked homemaking and sewing until arthritis in my hands made sewing to difficult.

Eddie, my parents have a couple of your paintings hanging on their wall so I can show everyone here your talent! Plus I know Eddie was a poet as well.

Kathie, do you cook, what kind of foods do you two enjoy? Comfort foods? Italian? Gourmet? Chinese? Something else? I don’t cook it but we enjoy going out for Chinese buffet. Also Mexican food.

Who doesn’t? : ) Those are two of my personal favorites as well. One of my favorite things is finding out about what people like to eat and seeing if we can get one of your favorite recipes? If we have people over for a meal it is usually Giant Mix Tostada. I like it because it is easy and the guests can fix their tostadas like they want. The ingredients are easy to fix ahead and not a lot of last minute preparation. First, cook the hamburger and heat the refried beans. Then fry the tostadas on each side, drain on paper towels and spread the refried beans on the face of the tostada, spread hamburger, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, salsa and sour cream and enjoy.

I love simple tips for entertaining. It’s the only way to go! So what would people be surprised to learn about the two of you? I don’t think there is anything surprising about us. I consider us just ordinary people who believe in the good in most people and accept people as they are.

Hmmmmm, I suspect there are some surprising things in the mix but I’ll move us along to the next question. How about, where all have you two traveled to over the years? Do you have a favorite place? We both like Alaska. We’ve been there three times. The first time we went on the Inside Passage on the Alaska Marine Ferry in which and we took the motor home. We got off at Skagway, drove all around Alaska and came home on the AlCan Hwy. The other two times we drove the motor home both to and from Alaska. One of the times my younger sister and her husband also drove their motor home and we traveled together.

I am crazy about Alaska too but I’ve never actually drove there. That is a loonnng road trip for sure but I do hope to do it someday. So on a whole different note, as one of my favorite questions, if you could ask three people over for dinner – living or dead — not family related – who would you choose? I’m not sure I didn’t influence Eddie but we both said George Washington and Diane Sawyer. Eddie also said Kevin Costner. I’m not sure who else I would choose.

That is a lively mix you two selected! Have you seen any good movies or TV shows/channels lately? Got any favorites? Eddie likes nature programs, and I like home and garden shows. Also, we like the Shark program. We watch a lot of KPBS programs.

How about Glen’s favorite topic — music? Got any favorite groups or styles you like to listen to most? This is square, but we like the re-runs of the Lawrence Welk shows. So does Glen’s mom! We also like the Statler Brothers. When Eddie was in school, he decided he wanted to play the Coronet. He got mixed up when they asked and said clarinet instead! That didn’t last long. I played the French horn and love to hear Souza music. We both like easy listening music and country.

Here’s my wild card question for you two: If you had to pick a favorite movie — or movie star — ever, what two — one each — would you pick? Eddie right away picked Dances with Wolves and Kevin Costner. Well that explains why Kevin gets to come to dinner with George and Diane . . . I like Dancing in the Rain with Gene Kelly.

Lastly, have I forgotten anything? Any last words for our readers today? We are so fortunate being a part of the wonderful Hendrix family. I have told Eddie many times I considered his parents the best in-laws in the world. They didn’t have much in the monetary sense but had so much love to give.

Eddie and Kathie, you have given us all so much love and support. Kathie, we love you. Thanks so much for helping with this interview. Eddie, I hope the fish are biting! You will be remembered by all of us with much fondness.

Thanks for reading everyone. We have the gift of this day, let’s make the most of each one.

Interview number 5 & 6 and another goodbye

Connect

Subscribe

Share!

visit my other website!

Categories

Archives