Verna Guptill Hammond

BELGRADE – Verna Lucille (Guptill) Hammond, 99, native and longtime resident of Belgrade died peacefully on Jan. 5, 2026, surrounded by her family.

Verna was born on the Guptill farm in Belgrade on Dec. 4, 1926, the daughter of the late Rosselle Nat Guptill and Maude Susan (Yeaton) Guptill. She was the youngest of nine children.

She enjoyed growing up on the Guptill Farm and doing the chores associated with living on a farm. Throughout her lifetime she always retained her love and appreciation for rural Maine, starting her day before the sun rose, hard work, a daily routine and tasks well done.

As a child, Verna would accompany her parents to the grange in Belgrade Depot. She especially enjoyed the opportunity to play with the other children in the ante room while her parents attended the meeting. In 1966, Verna was recognized by the National Grange for a twenty-five-year continuous membership in the grange.

One of Verna’s fondest memories as a child was sledding down the long Guptill Road. She also enjoyed walking down the Guptill Road to catch the school bus and then walking back after school.

She graduated Valedictorian of her high school class in 1944 and was a member of the Belgrade High School Alumni Association. Following her graduation, she spent a summer with her brother, Orville, while working at the local defense plant in Portsmouth, NH. She returned to Belgrade to accept an offer of employment with the State of Maine Department of Agriculture and was especially pleased to have been placed within a department that held such personal interest.

Verna married Clifton “Skip” Hammond of Belgrade on May 8, 1948. Together they raised their three children Donald, Deborah, and Mary.

She was dedicated to the care of her children, volunteering in many capacities at their schools, their Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts activities, driving her daughters to dancing school and various other activities. Many times, she would fill her nine-passenger station wagon with her children’s softball and basketball teams and transport them to their games.

She was a great cook and baked delicious chocolate chip cookies, whirly-gig cookies, holiday nut cakes and much more. Her family meant the world to her thus making her a great wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. We are all going to miss her!

In 1953, Verna and Skip were the founders of Clifton K. Hammond Lumber Company in Belgrade currently Hammond Lumber Company. The company has grown, from just a handful of employees to 33 Maine locations and one in New Hampshire with a total of 1200 employees. Between working from a home office while her children were young, and then to full-time employment in the office at Hammond Lumber Company, Verna worked for 58 years before retiring at age 85. She had a great work ethic, very dependable, and was considered a mentor. She would often say, “Once a task has begun do not stop until it’s done”.

Verna and her husband owned their own Christmas tree farms. One holiday tradition they both enjoyed was overseeing the choose’n cut season at their lot on the Bean Road in Mount Vernon. They met a lot of people and shared nice memories. Verna and Skip also developed many cherished and lasting friendships through their involvement in the Maine Christmas Tree Growers Association.

Verna enjoyed square dancing, moose hunts, fishing trips, trips to Young’s Lobster Pound (her favorite seafood restaurant) in Belfast for a feast of lobsters and steamers, annual Christmas shopping trips to Portland with Deborah, she looked forward to her weekly lunch at the Early Bird Restaurant with her granddaughter Laura, family gatherings, going out to eat, playing cards, walking daily, climbing the outside State House steps yearly until age 85, staying busy, traveling, and driving her snowmobile until the age of 80. Verna was pleased that she accomplished a three-day 500-mile snowmobile trip with her husband and son Donald as the trail master. On Dec. 10, 2024, Verna received the Boston Post Cane from Belgrade.

She is predeceased by her loving husband Clifton Hammond of 74 years; her eight siblings, Althea Guptill, Vivian Guptill, Hazel Mills, Robert Guptill, Dorothy Dolloff, Orville Guptill, Lillian Bickford, and Phronie Hammond.

Verna is survived by a daughter Deborah and her husband Robert Thing of Belgrade, a son Donald and his wife Mary Hammond of Belgrade, a daughter Mary and her husband John Palange of Manchester. In addition, she leaves behind six grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren, Dr. Laura Romano, her husband Anthony and their children Nicholas and Alexandra of Yorktown, Indiana; Helen Bliss, her husband Adam and their children Luca and Colette of Blue Hill; Sophia Palange of Augusta; Michael Hammond, his wife Amy and their children Sadie Berube, her husband Brad of Belgrade, and Bethany of Belgrade; Dr. Daniel Hammond, his wife Kerri and their children Elizabeth, Myles and Jack of Belgrade; Sarah Krizo, her husband Brent and their children Maxfield and Samuel of Belgrade; and numerous nieces and nephews.

The family would like to especially thank Dr. Edmund Ervin for many years of care, support, and friendship.

Per Verna’s wishes, there will be no visiting hours or funeral services. A graveside service will be at a later date at Pine Grove Cemetery in Belgrade.

Arrangements are in the care of Wheeler Funeral Home, 26 Church Street, Oakland. An online guestbook may be signed and memories shared at http://www.wheelerfh.com.

In lieu of flowers, those who wish may make a memorial donation in her name to:

the Victor Grange #49

c/o Barbara Bailey

196 Covell Rd.

Fairfield, ME 04937

Verna Guptill Hammond