Education
Born in Tennessee to James Henry Hamner and the former Laura Lula Hendrix, Laura was educated at Mission Higbee"s School for Young Ladies in Memphis, and Peabody College in Nashville. She also studied at the University of Chicago.
Born in Tennessee to James Henry Hamner and the former Laura Lula Hendrix, Laura was educated at Mission Higbee"s School for Young Ladies in Memphis, and Peabody College in Nashville. She also studied at the University of Chicago.
Mission Hamner, who never married, was a teacher for many years. From 1913-1921 (Woodrow Wilson administration), she served as the appointed postmistress at Claude, the seat of Armstrong County east of Amarillo. From 1922-1938, she was the Potter County school superintendent, a position which brought her to Amarillo, where she resided for the remainder of her life.
Hamner lived for years in the Herring Hotel in Amarillo, owned by Mayor Ernest O. Thompson.
Long after she had been school superintendent she was informally known as "Mission Amarillo". In the 1920s, Hamner and a friend, in an effort to encourage other writers, formed the group, Panhandle Pen Women.
In her later years, she resided in the Herring Hotel in Amarillo, where she frequently met with literary agents, publishers, and writers from throughout the world. At one point, she lived briefly on a land claim in Oklahoma.
She adopted a child. “Laura V. Hamner Week” was frequently observed in Amarillo.
Hamner died in Alabama, where she was visiting a relative. Most of her papers are in either the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum in Canyon or the Eugene C. Barker Texas History Center of the University of Texas at Austin. She is included in the “Listing of Great Texas Women”.
She was made an honorary member of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.