Leaving a Legacy: Marian Hammes

"Education" is the perfect word to describe the devoted life of Marian Hammes. As a 1934 graduate of Aquinas High School, Hammes was best-known for her life-long commitment to the world of education.

Hammes earned her teaching degree at La Crosse Teachers College, then received her Master's Degree from Northwestern and completed post-graduate work at Stanford University in California.

Marian began her teaching career at the Medary School, a one-room school house just outside of La Crosse, teaching 1-8th graders for eight years. Hammes then started a 34-year teaching career at UW-La Crosse from 1945-1979, first in the Rural Education Room, and then teaching and supervising teachers in Elementary Education. In 1984, the Early Childhood Education Center at UW-L was dedicated in her honor.

Hammes lived to be 94 years old, passing away on September 5, 2010, even after surviving a battle with polio when she was only two years old that left her physically disabled. "She never let her disability slow her down," said long-time friend and colleague, Burt Altman. "Marian was a tough woman who embraced the education field and gave everything she had to her students."

Because of her devotion to education, Aquinas was blessed with a generous gift of $127,000 from Marian's estate earlier this year. The gracious gift is being used to improve the learning environment for students at Aquinas, and to help the school stay up-to-date with educational technology.