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When Mary Hammett Hamilton was growing up in Claremore, Okla., she was expected to be on her best behavior as the child of longtime Claremore Mayor Jim Hammett, and as a “fill-in employee” for her parents’ business, The Five Tribes Trading Post, and later Hammett House Restaurant, a popular eatery located next door to their home at the foot of the famous Will Rogers Memorial.

“When I was a child, I sold turquoise nuggets for $1 a pound,” recalled Hamilton, a “card-carrying Cherokee Indian” and middle child of five born to a loving, supportive family who also remembers pointing visitors to the Indian graveyard on their property, which was a Claremore tourist attraction. “Being raised in the hospitality business gave me my work ethic and my customer service attitude. My parents expected all of their children to be available at any time to fill in for missing staff even if we were not scheduled. That experience has served me well for my work with the American Red Cross.”

Hamilton followed in her dad’s footsteps as a natural-born leader — classmates elected her president of the Student Council and she was named to the Future Business Leaders of America at Claremore High School – and followed the example of her mother, LaNelle Hammett, of doing the best at whatever task was set before her. “When I was in high school, I was also voted Best Apple Polisher my senior year,” said Hamilton, “though I’m not sure the latter is in the honor category.”

After high school and a bit of college – Hamilton earned an associate of arts degree in business administration from Rogers State College in her hometown and later a marketing degree from Northeastern State University in nearby Tulsa – Hamilton joined Braniff Airlines as a flight attendant for seven years.

“When Braniff went out of business, I decided I’d rather work on land and returned to the family restaurant,” she explained. “A couple of years later, I was offered the position of director of alumni for Oklahoma Military Academy.” Hamilton directed annual giving and alumni activities there for six years.

If Hamilton had not joined the Red Cross in 1993 as a state development specialist in Tulsa, which led to being named the chief development officer for the Tulsa Area Chapter five years later, and then relocated to Orlando as major gifts officer for the Southeast Service Area before being tapped to serve as CEO of the Central Mississippi Chapter in 2005, she would probably have pursued work in the financial world or the military. “I’ve always been intrigued by both,” she said.

Hamilton’s trial-by-fire moment came with the devastating Oklahoma City bombing. “I was on the scene within two hours of the event and worked through it by staying busy helping other people,” she recalled. “It was a big and challenging operation for the Red Cross and helped accelerate our focus on Disaster Mental Health.”

Hamilton arrived in Mississippi after the Central Mississippi Chapter had provided post-Katrina shelter for residents of the Central Mississippi service area – Hinds, Madison, Rankin in metro Jackson and rural Attala, Carroll, Copiah, Leflore, Montgomery and Simpson counties. She stays busy year-round with Red Cross activities not related to natural disaster relief, such as responding to more than one family fire per day, scheduling nearly 500 volunteers, and coordinating life-saving training classes.

“Many times, people lose vital medications and medical equipment in a house fire,” Hamilton said. “We work with registered nurses trained by the Red Cross in Disaster Heath Services to get their prescriptions refilled and help replace necessary equipment quickly.

“We also have mental health professionals who are trained in American Red Cross Disaster Mental Health. We use these volunteers to help Mississippians cope with the devastating loss that results from a fire, especially when there is a death caused by it.”

In her spare time, Hamilton, a self-professed “big Harley fan,” loves to cook –close friends adore dipping into a pot of her award-winning chili spiced by Hammett House Chili Seasoning -- and work on home improvement projects that call for her interior decorating flair and garden projects such as nurturing tulips and shasta daisies. She’s anxious to purchase a home in Jackson and explore Mississippi. “I love living in Mississippi and want to learn more about this state,” she said. “I’m intrigued by her history and people.”

Hamilton travels frequently outside Mississippi to visit family – her son, Austin, 23, and two brothers live in Oklahoma, her mother and sister are in Arkansas, and another sister resides in New Jersey. (Her father is deceased.) She’s often accompanied by her pure white miniature schnauzer, Jackson, 5. “I think it was a good omen that I named him Jackson and wound up here two years later,” she said.



May 2008

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