ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, February 1, 1997 TAG: 9702030043
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: NEWS OBIT
SOURCE: JEFF DeBELL STAFF WRITER
Anne Hammersley of Roanoke died early Friday at her home. She was 66.
The widow of E. Howard Hammersley Jr., former head of the photo department at this newspaper, she was for years a popular and influential figure in the cultural life of the Roanoke Valley.
"She was always brainstorming about what was good for the whole valley," said Ann Masters, director of the Clean Valley Council and former curator of the Art Museum of Western Virginia. "I think she felt a responsibility to give back and to support the total community with her involvement."
"She was the idea person, and everybody else just carried them out," said Sandy Light, a development officer for Center in the Square.
Though Hammersley was active in a number of charity and arts organizations, she probably was best known for her work with Center in the Square and Mill Mountain Theatre. She served on the boards of both.
Located on the Roanoke City Market, Center in the Square brought the theater, museum and three other cultural organizations under a single roof. It was built at a cost of some $7million in public funds and money raised by a group of prominent Roanoke Valley businessmen, and opened in 1983 with then-Gov. Charles Robb on hand for the event.
"She was one of the spark plugs among the originators of Center," said retired banker Warner Dalhouse. "She was very influential among the men who were attempting to turn that idea into something material."
Dalhouse recalled in particular that Hammersley pushed the founders to raise enough money to make Mill Mountain Theatre "one of the best-designed and best-equipped small theaters in the country."
"They knew how to raise money but they didn't know anything about theater design," said Dalhouse, who was one of the founding group. "She was on their backs all the time to do it right. She got them to stick to what they were good at, which was raising money and influencing politicians."
During her service on the board of Center in the Square, Hammersley pushed the wealthy businessmen who dominated it to open their ranks to other interests including women and minorities.
"She was a woman of grace," Ann Masters said. "She liked hot dogs as well as pate and country music as well as classical. She was a Renaissance woman."
"Anne was one of the most strongly positive people I ever knew," said Ernest Zulia, a friend and former director at Mill Mountain Theatre. "She had a strength and a positive nature about her, the combination of which was contagious."
Last fall, Hammersley received the Summit Award for service to the theater from the Curtain Callers, a group of former longtime board members.
"She had this wonderful spirit about her. Things had to be fun, and they always were around her," said fellow Curtain Caller Gerald Carter. "We all loved her a great deal, and we'll always have that laughter in our minds."
Hammersley was an alumna of Roanoke College, a one-time staffer of The (Roanoke) World-News and a former director of press relations for Roanoke College. She was a past officer of the Virginia Press Women's Association, and, in 1983, she was Roanoke's Mother of the Year for Community Affairs. She and her husband had one child of their own and five from previous marriages.
A memorial service will be held Monday at noon at Oakey's Roanoke Chapel. Former Roanoke Mayor Noel Taylor, a longtime friend of Hammersley, will officiate.
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Hammersley. color.by CNB