Nov. 27, 1931 – Oct. 23, 2017

FERRIDAY — A memorial service for Bryant O’Dare Hammett Sr., 85, of Ferriday, who died Monday, Oct., 23, 2017, at Plantation Oaks Nursing Home in Wisner, La., will be 2 p.m. today at First Presbyterian Church in Ferriday with the Rev. Clyde Ray Webber officiating.

Burial will follow at Harrisonburg Cemetery under the direction of Young’s Funeral Home of Ferriday.

Visitation will be from noon until service time today at the church.

O’Dare was born Nov. 27, 1931, in Ferriday, the son of Horace Hugh Hammett and Alma Warren Hammett.

He spent most of his life in Ferriday. He was a 1951 graduate of Ferriday High School and a 1957 graduate of Northwestern State College in Natchitoches, La. He taught school and coached for 32 years before retiring. He also taught and coached basketball at Monterey High School, then taught business and math at Ferriday High School, where he was in charge of the Distributive Education Program.  He had an accounting, tax and real estate business in Ferriday for 43 years. O’Dare was a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Ferriday, where he served a number of years as an elder.

He served his country in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War as a medic.

He was an avid outdoorsman, enjoying duck and deer hunting and fishing.

Mr. Hammett was preceded in death by his parents; one brother, Charles Lee Hammett and his wife, Rilla, of Lancaster, Calif.; and one brother-in-law, Dexter Byrd of Natchez.

Survivors include his wife of 65 years, Lollie May Caskey Hammett; one daughter, Diana Gayle Hammett McIntosh of Oak Grove, La.; two sons, Bryant O’Dare Hammett Jr. and wife, Susan Cotton Hammett, of Baton Rouge, and Albert Clayton Hammett and wife, Diane Ellis Hammett, of Carencro, La.; and one sister, Gayle Hammett Byrd of Meadville; seven grandchildren, John Robert McIntosh III “Trey” and wife, Julie, Caskey Lee McIntosh Schexnyder and husband, Brant, Virginia Lee Hammett Martinez and husband, Pete, Dorothy Elizabeth Hammett Tanner and husband, Paul, Laura Danielle Hammett Bourgeois and husband, Benton, Bryant O’Dare Hammett II “Boh,” and Albert Clayton Hammett Jr. “Bert”; and nine great-grandchildren, Alyssa Dru and Cullen Brown McIntosh, Catherine Elizabeth, Evangeline Clare and Elenanor O’Dare Martinez, Steven McIntosh and Major Dare Schexnyder, Wesley Hammett Tanner and Cameron Blair Bourgeois.

The family extends special thanks to all family and friends for all their help and prayers during O’Dare’s lengthy illness. Also, many thanks are due to Camilla Hospice and Plantation Oaks for their loving care.

Memorial donations may be made to First Presbyterian Church in Ferriday or to an organization of donor’s choice.

To leave an online condolence for the family please visit youngsfh.com.