Erna Frances Hamm

Hamm, Erna Frances: Aug. 31, 1924 - Jan. 26, 2026 Erna passed to her heavenly home after a 101-year life of service. She left Russia as a two-week-old baby along with her five older siblings for Canada where her family moved around during the depression. Finally, the Franz Toews family settled in Yarrow, B. C. after her mother's death and the subsequent remarriage of her father. After high school in Chilliwack, Erna married Herbert Hamm in 1945. When Herb became ill with TB for nine years, Erna worked for UIC with the federal government for seventeen years. She then retrained as a teacher and taught until 1984 when she retired. Herb and Erna moved to the drier climate of the Okanagan where they lived at first in Okanagan Falls and then in Penticton from 1993. They became snowbirds to Indio, CA until Herb had a stroke. For over thirty years Erna was a super volunteer as a literary tutor and at the Penticton hospital where she "worked" until she was 94. Predeceased by all her siblings and her husband Herb in 1998, she leaves behind many nieces and nephews who loved her dearly as their favourite aunt. A private internment will be followed by a memorial on Friday, February 6, 2026 at 2pm at Providence Funeral Homes on 1258 Main Street in Penticton.