Former professor and graduate Hammett dies in Wynne

Doris Kate Hammett '31 died on her 98th birthday, Monday (May 12, 2008) at a nursing home in Wynne. She was a retired professor of speech and drama at Lyon College.

Miss Hammett graduated from Arkansas College (now Lyon) in 1931. She received a master's degree from Northwestern University and did graduate work at the University of Southern California, Louisiana State University, University of Denver, University of Minnesota and Purdue University.

"Doris Hammett was a legend at the College," said Lyon College President Walter Roettger. "She was a standout actress as a student and, for nearly 30 years, a wonderful instructor at her alma mater.

According to Brooks Blevins history of the College, she was one of several alumni who returned to their alma mater to form the "foundation of the McCain-era faculty."

Dr. Michael L. Counts, professor of theatre at Lyon, recognized Miss Hammett's valuable contribution to the College's theatre department at Lyon in his "History of Harlequin Theatre," published on the theatre's 75^th anniversary in 2000:

"For the first 50 years of its existence, Harlequin Theatre grew from an idea to a powerful force in educational theatre in the state of Arkansas. From Mrs. Cornelius Ball in 1917 to Mrs. Ella Myrl Shanks in 1943 to Miss Doris Hammett in 1952 the directorship of Harlequin Theatre passed into the hands of three talented, determined women. É The success, and continuation, of Harlequin Theatre as a vital part of the educational theatre scene is a direct tribute to the efforts of these three unique women."

Hammett had been one of Mrs. Ball's leading actresses as an undergraduate.

In 1947, Miss Hammett joined the faculty as an assistant professor of speech and assistant to Mrs. Shanks, who had succeeded her as director of the Harlequin Theatre.

When Shanks left the College in 1952, "Miss Hammett" (as she was known to her students) took over as Director of Harlequin Theatre, according to Counts' history. "In 1958 she organized the transfer of theatre equipment from Alumni Hall on the original campus to the Fine Arts Building (now Brown Chapel) on the new campus at 22nd and College streets. It was during her tenure that the Speech major became a speech and theatre major (1966)."

In 1968, John Homesley '63, one of Miss Hammett's star pupils, took over as director of the Harlequin Theatre. Miss Hammett continued as professor of speech until 1976. After her retirement, Miss Hammett was named professor emerita of speech at Lyon. In 1994, Lyon recognized her contributions, awarding her its "Friend of Education Award."

Miss Hammett also taught at Wynne High School in the late forties, was a native of Wynne and a member of Wynne Presbyterian Church.

She is survived by her niece, Sharon Durham Kile of Highland's Ranch, Colo.; cousins Jim Herman, Murray Fisher Englehart and Bridget Herman Hart, all of Wynne; George Herring of Hammond, Ind.; Paul Gowan of Memphis, Tenn.; and Jimmy Sheridan Moore of Louisiana.