Journal Gazette & Times-Courier (Charleston, Ill.)

Martha T. Hamand, age 91 of Charleston, died on Monday, March 21, 2011 at St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis. Martha was born January 19, 1920, in Chesterfield, Illinois, a daughter of the late Arnold P. and Myrtle R. (Richardson) Tendick. She married Lavern M. Hamand on June 9, 1942 and they enjoyed a loving marriage and friendship until his death in 1992.

Martha is survived by her loving and devoted family of three children, Carol Stephens and husband Tom of Indianapolis, Wendy Venet and husband Allen of Atlanta, Georgia, and Jeff Hamand of Chicago; four grandsons, Jason, Andrew, Oliver and Henry; two step-grandchildren, Alissa and Adam; a step-great-grandchild, Sydney; and a sister, Faye Hamman of Decatur.

Martha was a 1937 graduate of Greenfield High School and a 1941 graduate of the University of Illinois. She taught English for many years at the Villa Grove and Monticello High Schools during the 1940s. At Eastern Illinois University she was an instructor in the English department, a position she held for twenty years and until her retirement in 1982.

Mrs. Hamand enjoyed helping others through her volunteer work associated with the American Red Cross Society, the Charleston Food Pantry and EIU's Neal Welcome Center. She was actively involved with the Charleston Drama Study Club, various bridge clubs, and numerous cultural and social functions.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in her honor to the Eastern Illinois University Foundation specifying the Lavern M. and Martha T. Hamand Scholarship or to the Charleston Food Pantry.