In Memory of

Paul Brown Hammond

Born: August 21,1935

Died: December 31, 2004

Paul's Life

Paul was born in Lexington, Georgia, the
youngest of three children. Paul was always an industrious person
even as a child. When he was six years old, he had his first job
at The Oglethorpe Echo, the town newspaper. He would sweep the
floors, empty the trash, and clean the excess ink from the letters
for the presses and put them in the appropriate boxes. He earned
$2.00 a week. He said he gave one dollar to his mother and with
the other dollar he would ride the bus to Athens to the movie
theater, buy a bag of popcorn and a coke, watch two movies, then go
to the nearby drugstore and buy two comic books. He also bought a
hot dog and another coke while waiting for the bus to take him back
to Lexington.

He went to high school in Atlanta. He became self sufficient
by a newspaper route. He threw more than 500 newspapers on his
route before attending class. He had his own car, was on the
football team and, of course, was quite popular with the girls.

He joined the Navy on 9 September, 1952, when he was
seventeen. After Recruit Training, he served aboard the USS Coral
Sea (CVA-43) until December 1953. He was then transferred for
schools to NATTC (Naval Air Tactical Training Center) Norman, Oklahoma, and NATTC Jacksonville, Florida.
He served on board the USS Kearsarge (CVA-33) in 1954, NAS
Jacksonville in 1955, and then on to VP- 10 in 1956 in Brunswick,
Maine, where he met and married his wife, Barbara, in 1957. In
1960 he transferred to VP-30 Det. Alpha in Norfolk, Virginia, then
to VP-30 Jacksonville a year later. He attended AO (Ammunition Ordinance) "B" school while at Jacksonville and was granted the distinction of the only
ordinance man to graduate from that school in the newly appointed
AX1(anti-submarine warfare) rate on December 4, 1962. His next duty station was VP-45,
Bermuda. He was there less than a year when the squadron converted
the patrol planes from the P5M Marlin sea plane to the new P3 Orion
patrol bomber in November of 1963. The squadron was moved from
Bermuda to Jacksonville, Florida. In December of 1966, Paul was
assigned to Naval Station, Bermuda, until 1969, when he was
transferred to VP-11 at Brunswick, Maine. He retired to the Fleet
Reserve on the 20th day of October, 1971. He was retired
permanently from the Navy on February 1, 1978.

Paul was a volunteer. He started volunteering when his two
sons were old enough for Little League. He started out as a
baseball coach and then as an umpire for football and basketball.
They were living in Bermuda and there was no little league for kids
there at that time, so a group of parents got together and started
a league. They raised money for uniforms and gear and the league
grew and grew. He did the same thing in Brunswick when he heard
that the local little league would not allow navy kids to play.
Although he gave up coaching when he retired, he did not give up on
volunteering for the kids. He sponsored several teams over the
years and would go to their games even when his own boys were grown.

Paul retired from the Navy in 1971, he started selling cars.
In 1975 he got his own used car dealer license. He became involved
with FIADA, the state dealer association, and served on many of its
committees. His favorite committee was the Convention Committee.
This committee not only set up the convention, it brought in
vendors, set up educational seminars and provided entertainment at
the convention. Paul's theory was "the more fun the dealers have,
the more dealers will attend the convention." He also served on
fund-raising committees that not only benefited the association,
but also the needs of dealers and their families in time of crises
and certain charities.

Paul also loved volunteering at the VA Hospital cheering up
the patients there. He love getting them enthusiastic about winning
Bingo. He would also just sit and visit with the veterans. He
would get them talking and remembering the good times and the fun
times. It was as therapeutic to him as it was to them. I believe
he had over 700 hours of volunteer time with them. Some of you will
remember the friendship he had with Tom Pendleton. He would take
Tom to his appointments at the VA Hospital so he would not have to
stay in Gainesville all day. He stayed close to Tom because Tom
had no one else. Paul honestly believed he made life a little
better for Tom.

Paul also liked to help his neighbors. We have a widow
neighbor that he would shop for groceries and some times take her
to the doctor's office. Paul did small things, and all these small
things would add up to benefit someone else. Paul loved life, and
the people he knew were part of his life. He loved to make people
feel good. He was a good man. He will be missed by a lot of people.

 Here are some of the planes the Paul flew in.

Here's a couple of letters from two of Paul's Grand-Children,

Paul Hammond lived a full life and he was a loving husband and father. He had a full Navy career and a good career in the car business, new and used. He had a lot of fun with his life and he made sure that those who are around him had fun too. He had a lot a friends and very few enemies and I honestly believed that anyone who knew him was blessed to have known him, I know that I am, even though I'm his son.

Dad, We love you and we miss you!