"OUR WOMEN OF SANDWICH"
(2020 Summer Exhibit)
MARY FRANCES HAMBROOK
1927-2004
Mary Frances (Reeves) Hambrook (“MF”) was born in 1927 in Tokyo, Japan to Justina and Howell H. Reeves. She was the youngest child and was raised by her father and aunt after her mother passed away when MF was just eight years old. Her Dad allowed her to play baseball, go to Girl Scout camp, and hop the train from upstate New York to NYC to go shopping! She met and married Gerry Hambrook. They moved to Sandwich with her father after his retirement. MF always said that she wanted enough children to have her own baseball team, and in fact, they raised eight children here in Sandwich.
MF was a busy stay-at-home-mom, who encouraged her children to be active, spending time gardening, swimming, and exploring. Vittum Hill Road was a wonderful place to allow her children to do all of that. Family was her life and joy! As the children grew MF became involved as a Girl Scout leader, Sunday School teacher at St, Charles in Meredith and watching her kids play sports. She often joked that she never figured out whether to have dinner before or after Little League! Throughout her whole life she was an avid sports fan; especially near and dear to her heart were the Red Sox, and she was thrilled when they won the Series in 2004 just two months before she died.
MF was a fire department wife. Her husband Gerry was the Chief for 28 years. As such, she knew firsthand the department needed support. Along with Sylbert Forbes, Jane Stokes, Mary Lamprey, and others, she helped to start the first Sandwich Volunteer Fire Department Ladies Auxiliary, the Sandwich Siren’s. They did fundraising to help the department augment their budget in order to buy additional equipment and even to help start the Rescue Squad. These fundraising efforts included a cookbook and sponsoring the Fire Department’s Chicken BBQ’s. The Siren’s were also on-call to provide food and drinks to the department during long fires, rescues, and throughout the July floods of 1973. They also helped to provide some recognition to department members who had reached milestones of service. During the Bicentennial in 1976, the Siren’s and fire department fielded women’s and men’s muster teams, competing around the state of New Hampshire and participating in many parades. MF heartily participated and encouraged Abby to join them.
When her youngest was in elementary school, MF started working part-time outside the home. Eventually, she began working alongside Sylbert Forbes as the Assistant Librarian at the Samuel H. Wentworth Library. She thoroughly enjoyed the work and even took library courses to become certified. Later, she also became the first librarian at Sandwich Central School. There she helped to foster a love of reading to a generation of children around the ages of her grandchildren. Judy Stoehr used to tell a story about when she first moved to Sandwich and was a little overwhelmed with settling in and caring for her two young children while her husband was still working out of town. She remembered that MF encouraged her to leave the kids at the library while she went to the Post Office or to take a walk. Judy more than appreciated that MF threw her the brief lifeline while also making her feel welcome in town.
One of the more memorable chapters of MF’s Sandwich life came when she was invited to go hiking on Tuesdays with Jocelyn Gutchess, Lib Crooker (Bates) and a small group of townspeople. They had fun, decided to make it a regular thing and soon the ‘Over The Hill Hikers’ were born. Every Tuesday she hiked or cross country skied in the winter. She loved it! One chilly June Tuesday in 1985 the grouped hiked Whiteface Mountain, but MF felt unwell at the top and needed to have the Sandwich Fire Department, including her husband and three of her children, come rescue her from what turned out to be a heart attack. Due to fog, it was a nine hour carry-out and trip to the hospital and major damage had been done to her heart. The rest of the summer she spent recuperating on her screened porch with a view of Whiteface. She vowed to return, which she did, and finished all the 48 4,000 footers and the ‘52 With a View’. She completed these lists more than once during the ensuing twenty years, and her cardiologist summed it up well when he lovingly said, “You’re weird! I don’t have any other patients to compare you to, so do what you feel you can!”
Even in the last years of her life, when her mountains had become the small hills on Vittum Hill Road, she enjoyed walking and her view of the mountains. MF was a character, and her legacy lives on in her children, grand- and great-grandchildren, and in Sandwich.
Abby Hambrook and Sue Hambrook Greene
June 2020
MF was a busy stay-at-home-mom, who encouraged her children to be active, spending time gardening, swimming, and exploring. Vittum Hill Road was a wonderful place to allow her children to do all of that. Family was her life and joy! As the children grew MF became involved as a Girl Scout leader, Sunday School teacher at St, Charles in Meredith and watching her kids play sports. She often joked that she never figured out whether to have dinner before or after Little League! Throughout her whole life she was an avid sports fan; especially near and dear to her heart were the Red Sox, and she was thrilled when they won the Series in 2004 just two months before she died.
MF was a fire department wife. Her husband Gerry was the Chief for 28 years. As such, she knew firsthand the department needed support. Along with Sylbert Forbes, Jane Stokes, Mary Lamprey, and others, she helped to start the first Sandwich Volunteer Fire Department Ladies Auxiliary, the Sandwich Siren’s. They did fundraising to help the department augment their budget in order to buy additional equipment and even to help start the Rescue Squad. These fundraising efforts included a cookbook and sponsoring the Fire Department’s Chicken BBQ’s. The Siren’s were also on-call to provide food and drinks to the department during long fires, rescues, and throughout the July floods of 1973. They also helped to provide some recognition to department members who had reached milestones of service. During the Bicentennial in 1976, the Siren’s and fire department fielded women’s and men’s muster teams, competing around the state of New Hampshire and participating in many parades. MF heartily participated and encouraged Abby to join them.
When her youngest was in elementary school, MF started working part-time outside the home. Eventually, she began working alongside Sylbert Forbes as the Assistant Librarian at the Samuel H. Wentworth Library. She thoroughly enjoyed the work and even took library courses to become certified. Later, she also became the first librarian at Sandwich Central School. There she helped to foster a love of reading to a generation of children around the ages of her grandchildren. Judy Stoehr used to tell a story about when she first moved to Sandwich and was a little overwhelmed with settling in and caring for her two young children while her husband was still working out of town. She remembered that MF encouraged her to leave the kids at the library while she went to the Post Office or to take a walk. Judy more than appreciated that MF threw her the brief lifeline while also making her feel welcome in town.
One of the more memorable chapters of MF’s Sandwich life came when she was invited to go hiking on Tuesdays with Jocelyn Gutchess, Lib Crooker (Bates) and a small group of townspeople. They had fun, decided to make it a regular thing and soon the ‘Over The Hill Hikers’ were born. Every Tuesday she hiked or cross country skied in the winter. She loved it! One chilly June Tuesday in 1985 the grouped hiked Whiteface Mountain, but MF felt unwell at the top and needed to have the Sandwich Fire Department, including her husband and three of her children, come rescue her from what turned out to be a heart attack. Due to fog, it was a nine hour carry-out and trip to the hospital and major damage had been done to her heart. The rest of the summer she spent recuperating on her screened porch with a view of Whiteface. She vowed to return, which she did, and finished all the 48 4,000 footers and the ‘52 With a View’. She completed these lists more than once during the ensuing twenty years, and her cardiologist summed it up well when he lovingly said, “You’re weird! I don’t have any other patients to compare you to, so do what you feel you can!”
Even in the last years of her life, when her mountains had become the small hills on Vittum Hill Road, she enjoyed walking and her view of the mountains. MF was a character, and her legacy lives on in her children, grand- and great-grandchildren, and in Sandwich.
Abby Hambrook and Sue Hambrook Greene
June 2020
L to R: MF, Sue, Molly, and Kathy
