HAMMAR, SHIRLEY M. (O'KEEFE), R.N.
Age 89, a resident of Albuquerque since 1971, slipped these surly bonds on January 19, 2012. She was born in Oakland, California and always thought herself a Californian. She was one of two daughters born to Irene and Arthur O'Keefe. Irene died when Shirley was six. She and her older sister Patsy (presently of Carmel, CA) were reared by their maternal grand-parents. Shirley obtained her Bachelor's in Nursing from Providence College and also attended the College of Holy Names (near Oakland, CA). She worked as a RN for nearly 50 years, in various hospitals, including Wilson N. Jones Hospital in Sherman, TX, Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs, CO and UNMH. After retiring she served as a volunteer at the Animal Humane Assn. and the NM Museum of Natural History. She was a private person with a mordant sense of humor who met and married the love of her life, H. Gordon Hammar, while both were serving in the U.S. Army in Germany shortly after WWII. They had a 51 year marriage when Gordon, then a retired LCOL USAF and owner/ operator of Eddy Hammar Hardware, died in 1998. Shirley had a son, Dennis, who also died before her. But his two children, Christian and Caitlin Landskroener, and their mother, Nancy Landskroener, survive her. Also surviving are her son, Kevin and daughter-in-law, Kathy (Brandt) Hammar and their two children, Joseph Brandt-Hammar and Elyse Sokoloff and her husband, Mike and their children (Shirley's great-grandchildren) Elianna and Marielle. She will be interred, with military honors, in the National Cemetery in Santa Fe, with Gordon whom she will rejoin after 13 years of separation. Apart from a private graveside ceremony, she wanted no other service. The family invites Shirley's friends to an open house on February 5, 2012 from 2:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at 1687 Tierra Del Rio NW, Albuquerque. Shirley loved animals, particularly ducks and dogs, so in lieu of flowers, consider a donation to the Animal Humane Assn. of New Mexico at 615 Virginia SE, Albuquerque, NM 87108. There are not thanks enough for the many people who were so kind to her these last few years. Nor can we hope to find all of her friends to whom she would have us say goodbye. May she have fair winds and following seas. "All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man (or woman) dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated..." by John Donne.