Former Mountlake Terrace mayor, psychologist remembered

Sen. Henry M. “Scoop” Jackson was friends with Dr. Frank Hammer.

In 1962, when Dr. Hammer was the mayor of Mountlake Terrace, Jackson dropped by for the dedication of a new civic center in town.

“Scoop came over to our house,” said Frank Hammer’s son, Dan Hammer. “They smoked pipes together.”

Frank Hammer was the mayor of Mountlake Terrace from 1960 to 1964, when the town still had dirt roads. He also served on the city council for a decade.

Being a mayor near Seattle was a big deal, Dan Hammer said. They got to sit on the barge at hydroplane races.

Dr. Hammer was elected mayor because he was even-handed, said Phyllis Fiege, who lived in Mountlake Terrace during his term. Her husband, Gene Fiege, served on the city council.

During Hammer’s term as mayor, his first wife, Margaret, a community activist, was killed in an automobile accident. Hammer became a single father with four children, Fiege said.

He later remarried and raised two more children.

Dr. Frank Jorgen Hammer, 92, of Arlington, died March 22 of heart failure. He was born in 1918 in Appleton, Wis. He graduated from Lawrence University in Appleton with a degree in chemistry and received his doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Chicago.

Hammer was an outstanding college athlete in football, basketball and track. As a halfback, his leather helmet, prescription goggles and running prowess earned him the nickname “Man from Mars.”

Using his speed, he created a famous “Hammer Scamper” trick play.

“He scored a bunch of times on it, said his nephew, Dean Smith. “He could run a 100 yard dash in 10 flat.”

Hammer was a diehard Green Bay Packers fan and was known to wear a cheese-wedge hat in honor of the Wisconsin team.

But he also was a Seattle Seahawk charter season ticket holder.

A music lover, Hammer was an Eagle Scout and a leader in DeMolay. He was president of his Beta Theta Pi fraternity and sang in college choirs.

In college, he listened to Les Brown and His Band of Renown on the radio.

The retired lieutenant colonel served in the U.S. Army for 28 years including stints during World War II and the Korean War. He was stationed on Guam, in Osaka, Japan, and was chief psychologist at Madigan Army Hospital at Fort Lewis.

“We’d go to Fort Lewis when we were kids,” his son said. “We’d go to the Officer’s Club and drink Shirley Temples. We got to swim at the officer’s beach. He dealt with guys who were shell-shocked during the Korean War.”

His father still maintained an office in Arlington and did private practice therapy, counseling and testing. He organized employee assistance programs for major companies, was a psychologist for the Seattle Police Department and taught at Edmonds Community College and the University of Puget Sound.

Dr. Hammer is survived by his children, Laurel Hammer; Dan and his wife, Terry; Frank and his wife Mary; Marina and Melanie Hammer; grandchildren include John and his wife, Grace; David, Anna, Bret, Janelle and Leah; and three great-grandchildren, Hailey, Emma and Justus.

He was preceded in death by his oldest son, Mark.

All of the Frank children earned college degrees.

“He asked us what college we were going to,” Dan Hammer said. “It wasn’t a matter of whether or not we were going to go.”

Laurel Hammer said her father was a consultant at Valley General Hospital in Monroe.

“He would run into AA people he knew,” she said. “He would simply say their paths had crossed.”

He was a proud, patient and kind father, who cooked pancakes on Saturday mornings and glazed ham with pineapple and brown sugar. He loved dogs.

Hammer gave the Blue Bird Cafe in Arlington a clock with birds that sing every hour on the hour.

“He came in for a variety of meals,” said owner Shirley Parris. “All the help knew him and liked him so much.”

A patriot, Dr. Hammer took little flags to Arlington Free Methodist Church for youngsters to wear during the week of Flag Day.

Dr. Hammer eagerly shared his love of knowledge.

“He’d make 100 copies of everything,” Laurel Hammer said. “He gave us all copies of an article he read about hyperbaric chambers.

“He knew about everything,” she said. “He got all the questions right on ‘Jeopardy’ except about new rock groups.”