Beech Tree News Network

She was known throughout Butler County and beyond as a matriarch to all and an artistic businesswoman who reinvented herself over the decades. Joyce Porter Hammers, 83, passed away December 28, 2014, at the Morgantown Care and Rehabilitation Center after a long illness. She was a proud native of Morgantown, where she spent her life. As a young woman, she clerked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service and worked as a secretary at Morgantown Elementary and a clerk at Wan's Medical Clinic. She married Floyd Wendell Hammers in 1957, and they raised two children. After surviving a life-threatening cancer in the late 1970s, Joyce left behind office work to pursue her love of art and storytelling. She and Floyd ran Hammers Art & Frame Shop for many years where she completed more than 100 paintings, architectural drawings and photographic works. Joyce wrote and performed about 25 monologues representing female pioneers including Susanna Wesley and Sacagawea. She was a devout member of Morgantown First United Methodist Church and attendee at Morgantown Community Church, and she volunteered in the community and its schools. In recent years, she opened her home to hundreds of children to see her enormous Candytown Christmas village, a massive display that filled her living room with holiday scenes she fashioned from colorful lights, figurines and gingerbread houses.
Joyce is preceded in death by her husband, parents Mabel and Clark Thomas Porter and siblings Robert Porter, Aleta Connor, Tommy Porter and Bonnie Romans. She is survived by a daughter, Kelley Hammers (Leo Fernandez); a son, Clark Porter Hammers (Deborah); granddaughter Dana Clark Felty Bynum (Russ); grandson Clark Thomas Hammers; step-grandsons Adam and Andrew Gabbard, three great-grandchildren and siblings Marie Crump, Marguerite Tuggle, Albert Porter and Mike Porter and many nieces and nephews. The family wanted to thank the nursing home staff during her time there. Visitation will begin on Thursday, Jan 1, 2015. from 2:00 pm until 8:00 pm and again on Friday from 8:00 am until 12:00 pm at the Smith Funeral Home. Pastor Josh Scott will lead us in our final tribute at 12:00 at the Smith Funeral Home, with burial to follow at the Walnut Grove Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Morgantown Mission.  Online Condolences may be made at www.smithfuneralhome1886.com