Nelda Chase Hamer's Obituary
NELDA CHASE HAMER, a faithful mother, grandmother and sister, passed away peacefully at age 82 on March 11, 2020.
She was born on November 2, 1937, in Memphis, Tennessee, as the second of two daughters of L. Harris Chase and Modena Chase. She was a proud graduate of Central High School’s Class of 1955, and attended Memphis State University and Texas Women’s University in Denton, Texas.
Nelda worked for years as a legal secretary for two Memphis law firms, Holt & Bachelor and Boone, Wellford, Clark, Langschmidt & Pemberton. Later she served as a real estate agent for Poplar Pike in East Memphis, an editor for Memphis publisher Wimmer Brothers Books, and then an administrative assistant and office manager for investment firm Loomis Sayles & Company in Memphis and in Washington, D.C.
In 1965 she married a young lawyer, James E. Hamer, Jr., and lived in Collierville, Tennessee with him and their only son Mark Hamer. She was tragically widowed at age 30 when her husband died in an automobile accident, leaving her to raise her young son alone. She never remarried, and devoted the rest of her life to being a perfect parent.
A voracious reader throughout life, Nelda was exceptionally bright, self-educated, articulate, and witty. She mastered every skill she touched: parenting, writing, baking, cooking, gardening, and painting. A piano prodigy as a child, she enjoyed a life-long devotion to music and taught piano to children in her later years. She worshipped at Collierville Methodist Church and later at Second Presbyterian Church in Memphis. She committed her retirement years to active service with the Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary and the Memphis Women’s Exchange.
Nelda suffered a disabling stroke in 2014 and moved into an assisted living environment in McLean, Virginia near her son for her final chapter of life. The presence of her grandchildren provided the best possible recovery therapy for her. She passed in peace, surrounded by her loving family, and strengthened in her final days by her deep Christian faith.
She leaves her sister and life-long best friend Hilda Chase Mullen of Memphis; her cherished granddaughters Grace and Rose Hamer; her nieces Lisa Mullen Waite of Dallas, Texas and Jennifer Mullen Schneider of Memphis; her nephew Jeff Mullen; and her son Mark Hamer and daughter-in-law Melinda Hamer of McLean, Virginia.
Services will be held Thursday at Memorial Park Funeral Home and Cemetery, 5668 Poplar Ave. Memphis, TN 38119, with a gathering of family and friends at 10:00 AM until 11:30 AM. A Celebration of Life Service be at 11:30 AM in the Fireside Chapel of Memorial Park Funeral Home. Interment will follow in Memorial Park Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, any donations in Nelda’s memory should be made to the Memphis Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary at https://salvationarmymemphis.org/womens-auxiliary.
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