Beverly Hammons

Beverly Ann Hammons

October 17, 1947 ~ September 2, 2014

Beverly Ann Hammons, a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, and sister, passed away on Tuesday, September 2, 2014 due to heart failure.  She was 66.

In addition to being beloved by her family, Beverly was an active member of the Ogden community who raised her children and helped to care for her aging parents while maintaining an active professional career as a configuration manager at Hill Air Force Base, retiring after 30 years of service to the federal government.  She began her professional career working as a draftsman for the mapmaking division of the United States Forest Service while still a high school student.  She graduated from Ogden High School in 1965, and enrolled in the engineering program at the University of Utah.

She was deeply involved in volunteer activities, particularly as a member of her religious communities.  She was recognized for her efforts with the Missionary Society of the Embry Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church.  Later, she joined the Church of Religious Science and was helpful in establishing a permanent home for one of the first Religious Science centers in the Ogden area.  In addition, she was a member of the I.B.P.O.E. Daughters of Elks Luthermae E. Adams Lodge #1343 where she was honored for outstanding service to the community.

Beverly was born on October 17, 1947 in St. Louis, Missouri, the oldest of two daughters born to Robert and Dessie Simmons.  Beverly and her mother moved to Los Angeles at an early age to live with family while her father remained in Missouri.  He eventually joined them in California, where her sister was born, but he was soon transferred to Hill Air Force Base.  Before relocating his family, her father made a practice of working in Utah at the Air Base during the week and driving back to Los Angeles on the weekends, returning to Ogden on Sunday evenings to begin the cycle again.  Later, he moved his family to Ogden and, in 1965, began construction of a house in Washington Terrace which would remain the Simmons family home throughout Robert and Dessie’s life.

While studying at the University, a friend of her parents introduced Beverly to a young man that had recently moved to the area from Denver to begin work at the recently opened Clearfield Job Corps Center.  After meeting, she thought the young man handsome and interesting enough that, by 1969, after a courtship of two years, she would eventually leave the University to marry Reginald Hammons in Los Angeles.

From an early age, Beverly displayed a strong interest in art, fashion design, and science.  She would go on to become a skilled seamstress making formal wear and other garments for herself as well as her family.

Beverly also deeply enjoyed her volunteer work, traveling, camping and, most of all, being with her family.  She had travelled throughout the country extensively as a career professional, and she sailed on several cruises around the Caribbean with her family in retirement.

Beverly is survived by her husband, Reginald, a former Army musician, instructor, administrator, and insurance agent; a daughter, Catherine Monique Hammons, an actress, writer, and spiritual advisor residing in Los Angeles; a son, Lee Reginald Hammons, a physicist and former musician living in New York along with his wife, Corinne; two grandchildren, Caroline Clarke Hammons, 7, and Grace Mercer Hammons, 6; and a sister, Dr. Carolyn Elizabeth Simmons, practicing in Washington State, and her husband, Ronald VanHooser.

Beverly was loved and will be sincerely missed by those that she has left behind.   She will be remembered for the pride she took in her family as well as her kindness and generosity, once taking in a high-school friend’s family after their house was lost to a fire and providing companionship to her mother’s friends after Dessie passed away.

She was a source of great love to her family and of unflagging support for her children’s endeavors, contributing generously to their success and happiness.  As her daughter Catherine recounted, “Beverly created freedom that I took for granted….  She gave me the courage to do what I wanted to do.”

Beverly was preceded in death by her parents.  We know their reunion will be joyous.

Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, September 9, 2014 at 2 p.m. at Lindquist’s Ogden Mortuary, 3408 Washington Blvd.  Friends may visit with family on Monday from 6 to 8 p.m. and Tuesday from 12:45 to 1:45 p.m. at the mortuary.