Judith Steidinger Hamre

COLUMBIA - Memorial service for Judith Steidinger Hamre, 79, will be held at 1:00 p.m. Friday, December 5, 2014, at St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church. The family will receive friends in the church reception hall following the service. Dunbar Funeral Home, Devine Street Chapel, is assisting the family. Ms. Hamre died Monday, December 1, 2014, at Palmetto Richland Hospital following a lengthy illness. Judy was born August 7, 1935 in Fort Worth, Texas to the late Erwin and Marie Godfrey Steidinger. Her father was an engineer with the Sinclair Oil Corporation. Because of his work, Judy and the family lived in several states before settling into South Carolina. Here she attended high school at Ashley Hall in Charleston, Converse College in Spartanburg and the University of South Carolina in Columbia. Judy spent over a decade as Director of Patient Services at the Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C. before returning to Columbia. It was in Columbia she became interested in S.C. politics and worked on both the campaign and Executive Staff of Governor Richard W. “Dick” Riley for both terms. Following her work for the Governor, Judy remained active in S.C. politics serving as campaign manager, S.C. Second Congressional District for Jane Frederick of Beaufort, Office Manager and Volunteer Coordinator for the Joe Riley for Governor Campaign as well as manager of S.C. House campaigns for the Honorable Jean Toal, Representative Candy Waites and Representative James Smith, all of Columbia. In 1992 she served as S.C. Office Manager and Volunteer Coordinator for the Clinton-Gore election in the Palmetto State. Judy had a strong commitment to South Carolina and the Columbia community for which she was awarded the S.C. Order of the Palmetto. She did extensive volunteer work while on the Board of Foster Care Review for Richland County and was a mentor to several students at Hand Middle School. She was a member of St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church. A marvelous cook, she was known among her many friends for her ability to plan and conduct formal dinners, receptions and ladies teas for dignitaries and friends and informal gatherings for everyday working people. These events, formal or not, were spiced with her incredible sense of humor and her ability to make everyone she met feel important and welcome in her home. Judy Hamre was an unpretentious, classy lady whose personality drew people to her from all walks of life. She was a strong supporter of human rights. She was preceded in death by her parents and her brother, William Godfrey Peeples of Greenville. She is survived by her niece, Ann Peeples Barton and her husband, Daniel, of Fountain Inn; a nephew, William Rule Peeples of Louisville, Kentucky; and grandnephew, William Glenn Whitted of Fountain Inn. The family suggests that memorial remembrances be made to St. Timothy's Episcopal Church, 900 Calhoun Street, Columbia, SC 29201, a charity of one’s choice or Pawmetto Lifeline, 1275 Bower Parkway, Columbia, SC 29212.