Dr. Hammett

Waynesville, James Frank Hammett, Jr. (Dr. Frank) was born in Athens, Georgia, July 16, 1925 and died December 12, 2009 from complications of Parkinson's Disease. He was the son of James Frank Hammett, Sr. and Rebecca Irene Marbut Hammett. Both his sisters, Dorothy Hammett (Davis) and Jean Hammett pre-deceased him. He received his degree from the University of Georgia in 1946 where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He was graduated from Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Wake Forest University in 1947. He married Doris Marie Bixby, a physician, in 1949. They had three children, Karen Hammett, retired teacher and school administrator living in Fines Creek, NC; Jim Hammett, Superintendent of John Day National Fossil Beds in John Day, Oregon; and Dr. Kristen Hammett, owner of Animal Hospital of Waynesville; and three grandchildren, Alison Cummings, and Savannah and Jesse Marie Swanner. Dr. Frank joined the US Army Medical Corps in 1949, serving at Sandia Base in Albuquerque and at 10th Station Army Hospital in Pusan, Korea. He started general medical practice in Waynesville October 1951. Knowing Haywood County needed an anesthesiologist, he added an anesthesiology speciality to his practice in 1955. When the new Haywood County Hospital was built in 1977, Dr. Frank gave up family practice. He chaired the Department of Anesthesia from 1955 to 1985. He was President of Medical Society and Chief of Staff in 1954 and 1960. He was one of the organizers of the Mountain Top Medical Assembly and with Dr. Roberson organized the program for two decades. He retired in 1985. He was president of the Hazelwood PTA in 1963, Waynesville Junior High PTA in 1965, and Tuscola PTO in 1968, served on the North Carolina National Park, Parkway and Forest Commission from 1965 to 1970, was a Boy Scout troop leader at First United Methodist Church, Waynesville and received the Order of the Arrow in 1969. As a member of First United Methodist Church, Dr. Frank served on multiple committees including Chairman of the Board of Stewards, Chairman of the building committee for the Christian Growth Center, and Co-Chair of the building committee during the re-building of the sanctuary after the 1995 fire. He was 1993 Lay Person of the Year for the Southeastern Jurisdiction of the Methodist Church. He served on the Boards of Haywood Vocational Opportunities from 1995–2000 and Northwestern Bank which became First Citizens Bank from 1965 to 1997. Frank and Doris Hammett funded the Haywood Community College Haywood Scholarship Trust Fund beginning in 1997 and were named by the Haywood County Community Foundation as Philanthropists of the Year in 2004. Dr. Frank was devoted to his patients, continuing to make house calls until he stopped practicing family medicine. Additionally, he was devoted to his family. His children remember him for taking four summers to explore the West on long camping excursions. He loved the mountains of North Carolina, the trout streams of southwest Montana, and most things associated with the outdoors. He enjoyed fly fishing, wildflowers, quail hunting, bird dogs, hiking, good books and a good, short sermon. Dr. Frank and his wife moved Givens Retirement Estates in 2005. A memorial service will be held at 2:00 pm on Friday, December 18, 2009 at First United Methodist Church of Waynesville. A reception will follow in the Christian Growth Center. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the First United Methodist Church Building Fund, PO Box 838, Waynesville, NC 28786 or HCC Scholarship Trust Fund (Hammett), Haywood Community College, 185 Freedlander Drive, Clyde, NC 28721

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