David Joseph Hammer

David Joseph Hammer took his first breath on Friday, March 13, 1942 in Hermosa Beach, California. On Sunday, January 29, 2023 he took his last in Oakland, California with his children by his side. Born to Harold Hylan (Bub) Hammer and Mattie Jo Linnell, David was the eldest of three brothers and a descendant of early residents of Visalia and Farmersville. David was raised in the chaparral hills of the town of Three Rivers, California, a mile outside Sequoia National Park. He grew up a country kid: hiking, camping, fishing, and swimming every summer in the family swimming hole filled with the rushing snowmelt of the Sierras. David, known as Dave to friends, had a passion for learning. He was a proud Eagle Scout (earned at the age of thirteen) and valedictorian of his class at Woodlake High School, graduating a year early. He earned a BS in Finance at UC Berkeley in 1963, where he made lifelong friends in the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. In 1965 he graduated from UCLA with an MBA in Marketing and began a long career in administrative and management positions with North American Aviation, Garret AiResearch, Baker Oil Tools, White Stag Water Sports, and Epson America. At Epson, David was responsible for managing ink and paper forecasting and inventories, which he was proud to note was the most profitable product line for the company. At some point, he was also a "Fuller Brush Man" selling products of the Fuller Brush Company door-to-door, a fact he enjoyed telling his children. As a young man, David pursued an adventurous set of hobbies including backpacking, skiing, scuba diving, and hang gliding. He and his brothers found an additional use for his scuba gear, searching for gold in high alpine streams of the Sierra. He lived and worked in Southern California, drove a string of sports cars, and shared suspiciously few stories from this period of the late 60s and early 70s with his children. In 1981 at the age of 39, after a cross-California courtship, David married the love of his life, Linda Meriwether, under an oak tree at the family home in Three Rivers. They had two children, Samantha in 1983 and Bret in 1985, who they raised in Redondo Beach and Torrance, California and took hiking across the mountains and deserts of California, forests of Oregon, and glaciers of Alaska. Linda died far too early in 1993 from cancer, leaving David bereft. His world became focused on providing for his children, for whom he ensured their education and ability to pursue their interests and careers into adulthood. David's children remember him as a good and honest man, who took pride in his work, loved animals and nature, was unfailingly polite, and unsuccessfully tried to teach them to never make fun of other people. He was known by friends and family for his intellect and his quirky and subversive sense of humor, especially before the loss of his wife. His children recall his creative play, how he made a bath towel into a matador's cape and the recliner into a spaceship. He would make up stories about his children, often pretending to be reading the news on the radio in the car (most of the 'newsflashes' had a scatological end). Born without vision in his right eye, he wore a glass eye since he was a teenager - an accessory he made special use of on Halloween to scare his children's friends. The Hammer family home in Three Rivers remained at the center of David's life no matter where he lived. He brought his wife and children there for most holidays and every school break, and never tired of walking the same hills. In 2005 he retired and moved back to live in Three Rivers in the shadow of the granite peaks and giant Sequoia forests he spent his life exploring. David's memory and mind left him years before they should have. Throughout his long illness with Alzheimer's, his children cared for him as they started their own lives, attended graduate school, and started their own families. His family is grateful to his compassionate caregivers and extends a special thank you to Gerry. David is survived by his children, Samantha's partner Cory, Bret's wife Andrea and his granddaughter Ynev, his brothers, Dan and Doug, his nieces, and his last pet dog, who he named Happy. On Thursday, February 16 at 11am David will be buried at the Three Rivers Public Cemetery (41841 Sierra Dr, Three Rivers, CA 93271), following a viewing at the Salser & Dillard Funeral Chapel the afternoon of February 15 from 4-7pm (127 E Caldwell Ave, Visalia, CA 93277). An online memorial will take place on Saturday, February 18 at 4pm (register in advance here ). In lieu of flowers, his children invite donations in David's memory to be made to the Sequoia Park Conservancy , Indigenous Environmental Network , and Cure Alzheimer's research fund . Services have been entrusted to Salser & Dillard Funeral Chapel and condolences may be offered by logging onto www.salseranddillard.com.

David Joseph Hammer

March 13, 1942 - January 29, 2023