Ruth Hammer, 93, Registered Nurse For 49 Years

Mrs. Hammer was born in Lorain on January 19, 1913 and had been a life-long resident of Lorain County. The last of the fourth generation of the Root Family to settle in Sheffield, she graduated from Brookside High School as a member of the school’s first senior graduating class in 1930.

She was regarded as a highly talented artist, but turned down an offer to enroll in the Cooper School of Art at the Cleveland Art Institute in favor of an opportunity to pursue a career in nursing. Ruth ultimately entered Saint Joseph’s Training School for Nurses at the former Saint Joseph Hospital in Lorain. She graduated from there in 1933 in the final class of Registered Nurses produced by that institution.

Mrs. Hammer was employed briefly by Saint Joseph’s Hospital following her graduation and then moved on to fulfill private duty nursing assignments throughout the area. She later served as an industrial nurse at the Thew Shovel Company and then as a store nurse for the O’Neil’s Department Store located at Sheffield Center from 1954 through 1965.

She re-entered hospital service by joining the staff at Lorain Community Hospital in 1965 and subsequently returned to Saint Joseph Hospital where she was instrumental in helping to establish the coronary care unit there. She officially retired in 1978 following a nursing career that had spanned nearly half of a century.

She was an excellent cook who served marvelous holiday dinners for her family. She was an accomplished horticulturist whose patio became a landmark in Sheffield Village adorned with colorful hanging baskets of flowers throughout the growing season. She was also a talented seamstress who made a wide variety of doll clothing for family and friends and who also took pride in crafting a large Ohio State University banner.

She was a member of the Nightingales Club, a group of retired nursing professionals from Saint Joseph Hospital. In her free time, she enjoyed spending time with her family.

Survivors include sons Donald J. Hammer of Sheffield Village and David H. Hammer of Lorain, four grandchildren, and four great grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband Howard in 1950, by a son Dale in 1988, by a daughter in infancy, by her parents Henry and Ada (nee Rider) Root, by her brother Frank A. Root, and by a sister Katherine Herdendorf.

Visitation will be Wednesday, January 3, 2007, from 2-4 & 7-9 p.m. in the Gluvna-Shimo-Hromada Funeral Chapel – 3224 Broadway Avenue – Lorain. Funeral services will be Thursday at 11:00 a.m. in the funeral chapel with the Reverend Dale Warrick, pastor of Cornerstone United Methodist Church officiating. Burial will follow in Garfield Cemetery – Sheffield Village.

Please make donations to: The American Heart Association – P.O. Box 634445 – Cincinnati, OH 45263-4445.