Willa Grey Hammond

Willa Grey Hammond, age 109, a longtime resident of Maple Knoll Village in Springdale, died peacefully at her home on February 29, 2024.  Grey was born in Moores Hill, Indiana in 1914 to Horace and Beulah Bruce.  After graduating from Moores Hill High School in 1932, she received a teaching certificate from Hanover College and later a bachelor’s degree from Miami University.  Her thirty-year career as a schoolteacher began in a one-room schoolhouse in rural Indiana; her later career was spent as an elementary school teacher in the Colerain and Finneytown public schools.  At the time of her death, Grey was the oldest living member of the Ohio State Teachers Retirement System. Grey met her husband, Edmond Hammond, when both were working in a defense plant in Cincinnati during World War II.  They married in 1944.  Ed, who was also an educator, served as Principal of Colerain High School and then as the Superintendent of the Northwest School District.  Their happy marriage lasted until Ed’s passing in 1997. Together with Ed, Grey enjoyed golf, birdwatching, summer vacations with family in Michigan, and travel.  She was devoted to her church (Monfort Heights United Methodist) and to a wide circle of dear friends, former students, and family members young and old.  In addition to her parents and her husband Ed, Grey was preceded in death by her beloved younger brother Malcolm Bruce, sister-in-law Lottie Jane Bruce, and cousin Catherine Thompson, along with many departed aunts, uncles, and cousins.  Surviving her are her nephew, William Bruce (Connie) of Spring Lake, Michigan, cousins Peter Thompson (Rebecca Terry) of Louisville, Kentucky, David Thompson (Sharon) of Scottsdale, Arizona, and Jonathan Thompson (Lou Ann) of Louisville, Kentucky, and their families, as well as her close friend Pam Smith. A memorial service for Grey will be held in the Maple Knoll Village Chapel on the Green, 11100 Springfield Pike, Cincinnati, OH 45246 on Tuesday, March 12, 2024, at 3:30 p.m. The memorial service will be preceded by a private family burial service at Mount Sinai Cemetery in Moores Hill, Indiana.  Friends wishing to make contributions in Grey’s memory may wish to consider the Cincinnati Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (cincyblind.org/support-us/donate) or the Maple Knoll Village Future Care Fund (mapleknoll.org/donate/). Online condolences can be made at www.paulyoungfuneralhome.com . Paul R. Young Funeral Home (Mt. Healthy) assisting the family.

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