Jane Hammons

Avril (Jane) Justine Hammons was born on December 7, 1925 in Bates, Arkansas, and departed this life on September 25, 2023, in Tecumseh, Oklahoma, at the age of 97.

Jane knew the meaning of hard work, growing up on a farm in a large family during the Great Depression. In her teen years, she worked in a factory in Sacramento during WWII, repairing equipment for our military. She turned 16 on the day that Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese. Later, in California, she worked in the post office, changed oil and tires, and filled cars with gasoline. Janell Chesser, her best friend, introduced her to Billie Joe Chesser, with whom she married and had five children. They lived in various California towns including Hanford, Kingsburg, Reedley, Morro Bay, and Dinuba.

Jane moved to Oklahoma in 1971 to run the Shawnee Greyhound bus station for Aunt Elsie until 1986. She met Mack Hammons in Oklahoma, and they were married in 1991. In her later years, Jane loved cooking for her large family on Sunday afternoons, going dancing with Mack, caring for her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, chatting with visitors, and sitting by the window in her armchair with a cup of coffee.

Jane was preceded in death by her parents, Francis Sliger and Fanny May Sheets, fourteen siblings including her twin brother Scott, first husband, Billie Joe Chesser, second husband, Mack Hammons, her daughter, Linda Kay, and grandchild, Samuel Phelps.

Those left to cherish her memory are her children, Carolyn, Barbara, Gary and wife Pamela, and Cathy; nine grandchildren, Michele, Michael, Marie, Mendy, Linda, James, Luke, Jessica, and Rebecca; twenty-two great-grandchildren, seven great-great-grandchildren, and two sisters.

A graveside ceremony for Jane will be held on Friday, September 29, 2023 at 10:00 am at Garden Grove Cemetery.