Hammerstrom, Robert H 1929-1998

HAMMERSTROM, RABY, PALERMO

Posted By: Janet Schuldt, Volunteer (email)
Date: 2/11/2010 at 11:14:56

Sioux City Journal, Sioux City, Woodbury, Iowa, USA May 16, 1998

Robert H. (Bob) Hammerstrom, 69, Plant City, Florida, died Friday, May 15, 1998, at his Plant City home of a long illness.

A memorial services will be held at the First Presbyterian Church in Sioux City at a date to be announced later.

Mr. Hammerstrom was born May 13, 1929, in Sioux City, the son of Howard and Florence Hammerstrom. He was graduated from Central High School and the University of South Dakota at Vermillion.

He served with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from 1948 until 1954 assigned to The Hague in Holland. He married Bonnie Raby April 16, 1954, in Sioux City.

Mr. Hammerstrom started his business career in the industrial relations department of Swift and Company in Sioux City in 1958. He later moved to Oak Brook, Illinois, where he was personnel manager at Swift’s Research and Development Center. He subsequently was promoted to director of public relations for Swift Chemical Company. He also was personnel director of Alexian Brothers Medical Center at Elk Grove, Illinois.

He was a member of the American Hospital Association, Chicago Hospital Council, Mid Florida Management Committee, Florida Brokers Association and the Walden Lake Polo and Country Club at Plant City.

Always active in sports, Mr. Hammerstrom was an outstanding fast pitch softball player for Sioux City’s Ray V Mitchell Team in he ‘50s and ‘60s. He also love to hunt and dish.

While living in Sioux City, he was a member and deacon of the First Presbyterian Church.

Survivors include his wife, Bonnie, a son and his wife, Dr. Steve and Marlene Hammerstrom of Kansas City; a daughter and her husband Debbie and Frank Palermo of Plant City; three grandchildren, Heather and Anna Palermo and Mia Hammerstrom; his mother, Florence Hammerstrom of Sioux City; a sister and her husband, Jo Ann and Jim Fowler of McCook Lake, South Dakota; his father-in-law, Herb Raby of Merrill, Iowa,; a sister-in-law, Gayle Raby of Sioux City; nieces and nephews.

A memorial has been established in Mr. Hammerstrom’s name for the American Cancer Society.