Willie Hammonds

Willie Hammonds
February 11, 1928 - May 16, 2010

Willie Hammonds passed away peacefully May 16, 2010 at 1:45 in the afternoon, surrounded by his immediate family.

Mass of Resurrection will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Wednesday, May 19, at St. Louis Catholic Church by Msgr. Mark Deering. Burial will follow at St. Mary's Cemetery in West.

The rosary will be recited at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 18, by Father Pius Matthew, followed by visitation with the family at 7 p.m. A memorial video honoring his life will be shown during the visitation.

Willie Edwin was born February 11, 1928 in Somerville, to John Love Hammonds and Lillie Belle (Cardwell) Hammonds. He moved to Waco in 1931. He grew up on a farm where he learned to love hunting, fishing, and the game of baseball. He attended school at Lacy Lakeview, LaVega and Waco High School. He graduated in 1946.

He began serving in the Air Force in 1950 and would soon be sent to Tokyo where he served for three years before finishing his military career in Seattle in 1954.

He resumed his banking career in Waco in August of 1954 with the First National Bank of Waco where he met the love of his life, Maxine Brennan. They married in 1957. Willie completed 50 years of banking and retired in 2002 at age 75.

He will be remembered for a fulfilling career of integrity, honesty, and having an impact on everyone he met. He was beloved as the banker's banker in Central Texas. His gift of telling the perfect story at the perfect time was enjoyed by everyone.

His ability to shoot a round of golf within strokes of his age still had his game very competitive within weeks of his passing. He enjoyed outings on the lake with family and friends and vacations at the beach. He loved sports and westerns.

While his children attended St. Louis Elementary and Reicher Catholic High School, he served on the school board and booster clubs, contributing endless hours of volunteer work. He was an active member of the St. Louis Catholic Church.

He was preceded in death by his parents, and his two brothers, Lee Terry and Bobby Neal.

Willie is survived by Maxine, his wife of 53 years, along with three sons: Mark and wife, Lisa of Grand Rapids, Mich., John and wife, JoAnne of Cedar Hill, Chuck and wife, Kellie of Dallas, and a daughter, Cynthia and husband, Jim Casto of Austin. He adored his 11 grandchildren: Benjamin, William, Jonathon, Jason, Sarah, Ryan, Rachel, Joey, Katy, Jack, and Luke. He also had many nieces and nephews.

Pallbearers will be Johnny Hammonds, Jeff Hutyra, Cody Long, Michael Brennan, Steve Brennan, and David Brennan.

Honorary pallbearers will be Bob Ross, John Fulbright, Harry Matustik, Willis Lokken, Ricky Thompson, Shem Winifred, and Parker Boyd.

His greatest gift to us was being a great husband, father, uncle, friend and Papa. We love you and thank you for always being there for us.

We would like to thank all of the nursing staff at Providence Hospital, Drs. Robert Anderson, Eric Walker, Keith Horner and Carlos Encarnacion.

The family requests that in lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Monsignor Mark Deering Scholarship Fund at Reicher Catholic High School, 2102 N. 23rd Street, Waco, TX 76708