Ara Stojana HammondFeb. 22, 1921 - Aug. 4, 2016Ara Hammond passed away peacefully at her Berkeley home at age 95, with her daughters at her side. Ara was born in Los Angeles to Elizabeth Rudolph, a teacher and Gjura Stojana, an artist who, as a bohemian young man traveled and worked as a staff photographer for the SF Chronicle. She attended John Marshall High School and came to UC Berkeley, majoring in anthropology with A.L. Kroeber as her adviser. There she met her husband Charles while both worked in the UC library. Charles was headed to law school but was interrupted by the war which took them to the Kaiser Richmond shipyards, where both worked in the effort to launch ships for the Pacific. As Systems Manager for a business forms company Charles was one of the early pioneers to apply computer programming to production and accounting operations. Charles passed in 1997 at 79.

They raised their daughters Andrea and Anita in Berkeley, through Cragmont Elementary, Berkeley High and UC Berkeley, introducing them to the adventure of travel. Ara was an avid tennis player, enjoying tournaments around the Bay Area, swimming, duplicate bridge and work in real estate. She was active and enthusiastic, cruising oceans and ports around the world, enjoying again the glaciers of Alaska just months before her passing. She wanted to thank her friends for the care, friendship and good times they enjoyed over the years. She is survived by her daughters Andrea (Donald) Tuttle of Arcata and Anita (Marc) Abramowitz of San Francisco, and granddaughters Rachel and Michele Abramowitz of New York.