Carol and Norman Hammer

 Carol (nee Gooding) and Norman Hammer, along with their people-loving, mixed, black lab, Lila, moved to Westminster Canterbury from Ophelia, Virginia.  They left behind their Northern Neck dream-home located beside water, but express relief to no longer have to take care of the 2.5 acres.  Carol, born in Baltimore, Maryland, into the family of a career Army father, attended five schools before graduating from Ayer High School in Ayer, Massachusetts.  She went on to study at the University of Maryland for one year.   Norman, born in Orange, New Jersey, graduated from Columbia High School and next received a B.A. degree with majors in history and geography, from Ohio Wesleyan University and two degrees from George Washington University, a J. D. and M. A. in Urban and Regional Planning.   He obtained admission to the District of Columbia Bar in 1967 and the Virginia State Bar in 1980. 

During the early 1970s, Carol worked for the American Chemical Society in Washington, D. C. before moving to London, England, where she resided for one year employed by the American Book Service.  When she returned to the United States, she accepted employment with a real estate management firm, and through a mutual friend, met Norman.  They married in 1974, and settled in Oakton, Virginia.  

For several years, Carol focused on raising their two children—James (deceased 2008) and Sara Hammer, who resides in Herndon, Virginia.   Norman’s career has included three distinct directions.  He worked as a planner for Arlington County and Planning Director for Herndon, Virginia; he founded and operated, with three partners, a wholesale pet supply business; and he practiced law for 35 years, focusing on, land use and zoning, real estate transactions, small business operations, and community banking. 

 In addition to their work, the Hammers have many outside interests.  Carol places digital photography at the top of her list of hobbies and has won awards at both local and regional events.  She reports that she also “dabbles” in writing prose and poetry, and enjoys walking and hiking.  After a second episode of breast cancer and with 20 pounds on her back, she walked 350 miles in 25 days across northern Spain on the French Way, a part of the Camino de Santiago, or Way of St. James.  Carol holds membership in the Virginia Native Plant Society and has achieved recognition as a Virginia Master Naturalist.   A strong interest in children led Carol to volunteering with the Good News Club, an after-school Christian-based program for elementary students.  Her support of mission work has resulted in Carol spending, for the second time, a week this summer with friends from Bethany Baptist Church in Callao, Virginia, at Standing Rock Reservation in Cannon Ball, North Dakota.

As long as he can remember, Norman has been an enthusiastic baseball fan and as such operated the scoreboard for the last seven years of the old Washington Senators (ending in 1971).   He also nurtures a passion for cooking and bluegrass music.  While his children where young, Norman supported their efforts by coaching Vienna, Virginia Little League, Babe Ruth baseball, and youth football. Other activities for him include memberships in the Rotary Club and Herndon Chamber of Commerce.  He served as president of the Board of Trustees of Montessori County School in Herndon and director for Eastern American Bank, later acquired by Fulton Bank. Carol says once she has settled in their WC apartment she may put her two creative hobbies together in a special project, and/or return to her interest and past work in genealogy.   Norman plans to learn to play the mandolin and hopes that living in Lynchburg will allow him to increase his exposure to bluegrass music.  Most of all, having left his beloved Weber gas grill and smoker behind, he hopes to find other ways to express his gourmet cooking skills