Mary Louise Swale Hamilton, 88, of Clarksville, Tennessee, and formerly of Victor, Iowa, died on October 12, 2017, at Signature Healthcare of Clarksville.
Funeral services are scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Saturday, October 21st, at the Victor United Methodist Church with Rev. Jim Davis officiating. Organist will be Fred Stieffel. Pallbearers will be Charles Hamilton, David Hamilton, Benjamin Kallemyn, Mitchell Kallemyn, Ted Hamilton and Daniel Kallemyn. Burial will be in the Victor Memorial Cemetery.
Visitation will be held from 2:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Smith Funeral Home in Victor with the family present from 3:00 to 6:00 Friday evening.
Memorial contributions may be directed to the Victor United Methodist Church.
Mary was born on September 18, 1929 in West Union, Iowa, the daughter of Albert and Ethel Matzenger Swale. Her mother was from Mobile, Alabama and passed away on January 4, 1939 when Mary was 9 years old. She and her three brothers, Albert Jr., Ralph, and Don, were raised by their dad. He had a hard task but did well.
Mary attended Upper Iowa University in Fayette where she studied to be a teacher. Her friends all called her by her nickname of Mort. In the summers she worked at the Mental Health Institute in Independence, Iowa where she met another Mort, her future husband, Bernard Hamilton.
Mary and Bernard Hamilton of Winthrop, Iowa were united in marriage on June 4, 1949 at The Little Brown Church in the Vale, Nashua, Iowa. They lived in various places before settling in Winthrop to raise their children Charles, David, and Rosemary.
Mary kept busy working with and enjoying her three. She also did many things in the United Methodist Church: teaching Sunday school and Bible School, Lay Speaker, a delegate to Annual Conference, and a certified Lab Teacher. Boy Scouts took up many family hours with Charles and David becoming Eagle Scouts and their dad serving as Scoutmaster. Later there were five Eagle Scouts in the family and one Gold in Girl Scouts. The entire family rode the El Capitan train to Philmont Scout Ranch in 1966 where everyone participated.
After their children left home for the U.S. Air Force and college, Mort and Mary moved from Winthrop to Victor, Iowa. They loved to travel in their Airstream, spending many winters in Florida and visiting their children around the country. They liked living on County Line Road where they enjoyed gardening.
Mary cared for her husband his last eight years, first in Victor and then in Bowie, Maryland, close to their daughter. They had been married almost 59 years when he passed away. Mary moved to Clarksville, Tennessee close to son Charles where she enjoyed playing the piano on Sunday afternoons at Uffelman Estates for the residents to sing hymns.
Her immediate family, mother, father, and three brothers, all preceded her in death. She is survived by her three children, Charles (Carole) Hamilton of Clarksville, Tennessee, David (Mary) Hamilton of Houston, Texas, and Rosemary (Daniel) Kallemyn of Upper Marlboro, Maryland.; four grandchildren, Benjamin (Heidi) Kallemyn, San Antonio, Texas, Gretchen Walker (Raymond), Phoenix Arizona, Mitchell (Kristina) Kallemyn, Odenton, Maryland, and Ted Hamilton, Houston, Texas; and six great grandchildren, Simon, Caleb, Levi, and Phoebe Kallemyn of San Antonio, Texas and Lillian and Henry Kallemyn of Odenton, Maryland.