Hammers named Elk of the Year

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As Mike Hammers was honored as the Elk of the Year by fellow members of the Port Townsend Elks Lodge 317, a theme became apparent: “He volunteered.”

David Sather, past exalted ruler of the local Elks Lodge and himself a former Elk of the Year, noted that even before Hammers became active in the Elks, he had a history of service to others.

Hammers was born in Seattle, but moved to Port Townsend in 1950 and graduated from Port Townsend High School in 1965. After a year at Olympic College in Bremerton, he enlisted in the U.S. Army as a diesel mechanic in 1966.

“When Mike was in basic training at Fort Polk, Louisiana, he was approached by his superiors about entering Special Forces training,” Sather said. “Mike volunteered, attending jump school at Fort Benning in Georgia, and Special Forces training at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.”

Hammers shipped out to Vietnam on July 4, 1968 and upon arriving on the Mekong Delta, he again volunteered, this time to serve in the Mobile Strike Force Command.

“He was in country for a year and a half,” Sather said. “The normal stint is one year, but Mike, you guessed it, volunteered for another six months.”

After his honorable discharge from the Army in 1970, Hammers tried college again, before short stints employed at a security firm, managing a tavern, working as an accounts representative for Gillette, playing golf as a professional in Indiana and testing the prototypes for what would become airbags at a research firm in Bellevue.

“Mike really liked this gig, as he was allowed to blow things up,” Sather said.

On June 4, 1974, Hammers met his future wife, Kim, at his sister’s wedding. They planned to get married in the spring of 1975, but they couldn’t wait, and tied the knot on Feb. 1 instead.

In 1977, after he’d moved back to the Pacific Northwest, Hammers went to work for PEMCO Insurance as an agent, and stayed there for 32 and a half years, before retiring and moving to Port Townsend in 2009.

Hammers was joined at the Elks Lodge April 7 not only by Kim, but also his sister Ann; his mom, Helen, and brother Jeff, both of whom came from Marysville; his daughter Jessica, from Puyallup; and his son Rob, who came up from his home in Utah. Hammers’ other sister, Pat, lives in Hawaii, and was unable to attend, while his father, Mike Sr., died several years ago.

ELKS IN THE FAMILY

“But Mike is very proud of the fact his dad was exalted ruler of the Elks in Port Townsend in 1966 and 1967,” said Sather, who added that Hammers and two friends returned to Vietnam in 2011. “The area he patrolled is now a park, with lots of restaurants, shops and tourist activities, a stark contrast to his last visit. He and his friends toured other parts of the country for 21 days total, and all the way to Hanoi and the coast.”

As an Elk, Hammers has served as a member for the House and Veterans committees, as chairman of the Tall Elks Committee and as a frequent volunteer (again) in the kitchen.

“He is on the Echo crew, where he majors in spell-checking with an emphasis in commas,” said Sather, who expressed his personal gratitude for the number of speeches he’s written that Hammers has proofread, even as the pages became covered with corrective red ink.

“Mike is the kind of volunteer you can count on at a moment’s notice to help out any way he can. He really embodies our motto, ‘Elks Care, Elks Share.’”

Hammers recalled the Saturday, June 8, 1968, when he’d come home on leave from the Army, and his father and his former history and science teachers inducted him into the Elks.

“I lived in Bellevue, so I wasn’t really able to become active in the Elks until I moved back here,” Hammers said. “I was proud to grow up in Port Townsend. Our Class of ‘65 was one of the best groups of people.”

IN VIETNAM

Hammers praised both his parents for setting positive examples as attentive parents and hard workers, before he recalled an amusing anecdote about his return trip to Vietnam.

“My daughter thought I was going back to my other family, in Vietnam, that I’d promised to return to after I retired,” Hammers said, laughing.

Not to be outdone, Hammers’ mother confided to the crowd that she was “very upset” when she learned he’d extended his tour of duty in Vietnam.

“After that first year, my parents thought I was out,” Hammers said. “When my mom learned I had six more months, she called Sen. Henry Jackson.… Years later, I was trying to get a loan through the Veterans Administration, and I called Jackson’s office, mentioning that anecdote to the lady on the phone. An hour later, I got a call back, telling me they were ready for me to sign the loan paperwork.”

Rob Hammers recalled how his father had come to Utah, not only to visit his granddaughters, but also to join his son’s golf teams.

“A lot of games, we had a mysterious fourth player that no one recognized, but we always scored really well,” Rob said.

Charlie Hetrick, a fellow classic car enthusiast who knew Hammers in high school, remembered when Hammers tried to teach him to play golf.

“One of the most impressive lessons I learned from him was how to lose gracefully,” Hetrick said.

Jim Baumgartner, a fellow gear-head and classmate of Hammers, credited Hammers with helping to keep track of Port Townsend’s Class of ‘65.

“Without folks like Mike, the Elks simply couldn’t exist,” said Paul Snider, current exalted ruler of the Port Townsend Lodge. “There are so many things he’s done that he never asked to receive kudos for. The bases of the chairs you’re sitting on? He fixed them so that they don’t pull on the carpet. Mike did all of them! It’s an honor to honor him.”