Rev. Kenneth A. Hammonds, 90, Presbyterian leader

The Rev. Kenneth A. Hammonds, 90, of Newtown Square, a Presbyterian minister and church official for 26 years, died last Tuesday of pneumonia at Bryn Mawr Hospital.

Mr. Hammonds was born in Bryn Mawr and raised there by a widowed mother. He graduated in 1936 from Girard College high school in Philadelphia.

He received a bachelor's degree in liberal arts from Wheaton College in Illinois in 1942. He earned a bachelor of divinity degree from the Princeton Theological Seminary in 1944, and a master's of theology from Eastern Baptist Seminary.

He received a doctor of divinity degree from Beaver College in Glenside in 1948.

Mr. Hammonds was a student assistant at Paoli Presbyterian Church in 1943, and was installed as pastor in September 1944. He remained there until 1954, when he became pastor at Narberth Presbyterian Church.

In 1960, Mr. Hammonds joined the Presbytery of Philadelphia as associate director of urban ministry. For 12 years, he was "stated clerk," responsible for making sure the church followed the guidelines in its constitution.

From 1977 until his retirement in 1986, he was executive presbyter, or head of Presbyterian churches in Philadelphia, Delaware, Montgomery, and Bucks Counties. There were 176 churches.

"He was credited with giving a new sense of unity and direction to the presbytery and its mission of endeavors in the Philadelphia area," according to a letter sent out Thursday by the Office of Pastoral Ministry.

Mr. Hammonds compiled the Historical Directory of Presbyterian Churches and Presbyteries of Greater Philadelphia, in 1993. The book covers the years 1690 to 1990, and is an important source of church history.

He and his wife, the former Mary Gibson, married in 1943. She died in 2002. At 85, he married the former Claire Schofield, then 72, a college professor.

Mr. Hammonds, who had lived in Ardmore, sold his house, and the newlyweds moved to the Dunwoody Village retirement community in Newtown Square. "Everybody got such a kick out of us, because everywhere we went, we held hands," his wife said.

He was a member of the Union League of Philadelphia, Paoli-Malvern-Berwyn Rotary Club, and the Rotary Club of Philadelphia. He served as president of the Rotary Foundation of Philadelphia from 1996 to 2002. He was president of the Pennsylvania Bible Society from 1995 to 1998.

Surviving, in addition to his wife, are a brother, Thomas; two nieces, and a nephew.

Services were Saturday. Interment was private. Donations in his name may be made to First Presbyterian Church of Ardmore, 5 E. Montgomery Ave., Ardmore, Pa. 19003.