We have to say goodbye to the greatest man we have ever known, our father/husband, Michael See Hammer.  He fought the good fight, but ultimately cancer has claimed another victory.  Known and respected by many, yet we want to introduce you to the man as we knew him.

He was born March 29, 1943 and grew up in the quintessential small American town of Elkins, WV.  It was in Elkins, as a young man that he became smitten with a young blonde named Joyce.  After graduating from high school, he journeyed south to his beloved Clemson University earning a degree in Industrial Engineering.  In 1964 he married his high school sweetheart.   His 20 year Air Force career began in Clemson's ROTC program.  He spent many years as a procurement and contract administrative officer which afforded Mike the opportunity to work and travel throughout Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific islands.   Stateside assignments gave the family opportunities to experience Orlando, Honolulu, Baltimore, and Burbank before getting orders to Davis Monthan AFB in Tucson, AZ. With two young kids in tow, these West Virginia mountain parents moved to the Sonoran desert in 1975.

Mike felt he had landed in paradise and fell in love with life in Tucson. While serving his country he was also an involved father before it was the norm. He was always volunteering his time and attention as a coach for whatever team Susan or Brian played on.  He helped build a truly great youth sports program, Sahuaro Bobby Sox.  This group of amazing families became our extended family and we all built life-long friendships with so many of them.  Mike worked on both the Titan Missile program and the GLCM cruise missiles while stationed at Davis Monthan and built many long time friendships with the men he served alongside.  Late in his military career, he was forced to relocate to Abilene, TX for work on the B-1 bomber for his final three years of service.  Not wanting to uproot his family from what he knew would be our forever home, he commuted every weekend and sacrificed so much to give us a stability not often afforded military families.

After retiring as a Lt. Colonel, he began his "second life".  He experimented with the moving business, telecom and furniture manufacturing before finding his calling as a home and property consultant and starting his own business.  If you ask any of his grandchildren, "Papa" could fix anything and many people came to rely on him for that.  His clients always became friends and he truly loved helping others.

He taught all of us the values and virtues that made us who we are today.  His first love and priority was always his family.  He was the ultimate doting grandfather ("Papa") to all 5 of his grandchildren and would do for them or get them anything they needed or wanted. His second priority was all of his friends. He would drop everything to help a friend, neighbor or client with anything from some sage advice to a broken water heater.  He was always very proud of his service to his country and instilled that pride in all his family.  He always lived by the credo "if you always tell the truth, you never have to remember what you said".  He ingrained in us a belief in honesty and integrity that we can only hope to pass along to our families.  He always had a passion for learning how things worked and how to fix them, and passed along that innate curiosity to always continue learning new things.  He was also a fighter, beating cancer once, surviving a heart attack and rehabbing from a hip replacement late in life. He was truly the best man we have or will ever meet. We will always strive to live up to the example he set for us.

This last year was tough, with a second diagnosis of cancer to two battles with sepsis. Through it all, his greatest concern was always the well-being of his wife of 52 years and the rest of his family.  He was a believer in living a life of quality over quantity and when it became inevitable that cancer was going to win this round, he made the brave and loving decision to forgo any additional treatment.  He peacefully and without pain slipped from our embrace on November 23, 2016.  He will always be missed, but more importantly, he will always be loved, respected and be held up as an example of how to live an honorable and decent life.   His greatest wish was that he would be remembered as "a good man".  He was our man and a good man.  We miss you and  love you!

A Celebration of Life service and get together is being planned for early January, more information will be posted as details are finalized.