Biography:

Real estate executive; writer, editor, public official. Born– February 1, 1916, Big Wills Valley, Valley Head. Parents– William Bleve and Alice Corina Jane (Holleman) Hammond. Married– Myra Leak, June 20, 1954. Children– Two. Education–Berea College;  University of Alabama, A.B., 1945; additional study at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, and Oxford University.  Served in U.S. Army, 1941-1945; awarded five battle stars for his work as a military war correspondent.  Press secretary to Gov. James Folsom of  Alabama, 1946-1950; executive secretary to the governor, 1955-1959. Served as general representative for American Red Cross in Greensboro, North Carolina, 1950 to 1954; president of City Center, Inc., in Arab, after 1959; mayor of Arab, 1963-1969; commissioner from Alabama for the U.S. Study Commission on Southeastern River Basins; Alabama Tuberculosis Association, director after 1956 and president, 1972-1974; American president of the Phillip Hamman Family Association after 1972. Member  Alabama State Poetry Society; Alabama Writers’ Conclave; National Federation of State Poetry Societies.   Seventh Poet Laureate of Alabama, 1991-95. Contributor of short stories and feature articles to several periodicals; author of approximately 50 hymns.  Named an Outstanding Citizen by the Arab Chamber of Commerce and a Paul Harris Fellow by Rotary International. Awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of West Alabama, 1992.  Died December 10, 2010.

Source:

Obituary; Who’s Who in the South and Southwest, 1982.

Publication(s):

Antebellum Mansions of Alabama. New York; Architectural Book Co., 1951.

A Blossoming of Sonnets.  1990.

Collected Poems. S.l.; Author, 1982.

Crossing Many Rivers–Poems Along the Way. 1995.

Edging through the Grass. S.l.; Oasis Press, 1985.

How High the Stars. S.l.; Author, 1982.

A Land Set Free. S.l.; Author, 1984.

My GI Aching Back. New York; Hobson Book Press, 1945.

One Golden Apple a Day; 366 Meditations. S.l.; Author, 1982.

Personal Encounters.  2001.

The Phillip Hamman Echo, 1972-1984; Newsletters of the Phillip Hamman Family Association of America. Arab, Ala.; R. Hammond, 1984.

Phillip Hamman, Man of Valor. Huntsville, Ala.; Strode Publishers, 1976.

Song of Appalachia. S.l.; Author, 1982.

A Transient on the Way. S.l.; Author, 1984.

Upon the Wings of the Wind. S.l.; Author, 1982.

Upper Alabama–Poems out of Light. 1993.

Vincent van Gogh, A Narrative Journey.  1997.

Where Eagles Fly By. S.l.; Author, 1984.

Wisdom Is. Arab, Ala.; Author, 1984.

Editor_and_Contributor;

Alabama Poets; a Contemporary Anthology. Livingston, Ala.; Livingston University Press, 1990.

Papers;

The Hoole Special Collections Library at the University of Alabama holds a collection of papers of Ralph Charles Hammond.