Bella Hammond
American politician
Bella Hammond (born Bella Gardiner, December 21, 1932 – February 29, 2020) was an American activist and commercial fisherman. Hammond served as the First Lady of Alaska from 1974 until 1982 during the tenure of her husband, former Governor Jay Hammond. She was the first person of Alaska Native descent to reside in the Alaska Governor's Mansion.
Hammond was a vocal opponent of the proposed Pebble Mine in the Bristol Bay region of Southwest Alaska.
Biography
Early life
Hammond was born Bella Gardiner on December 21, 1932, in the village of Kanakanak, Territory of Alaska, as the fourth of her family's seven children. Her mother, Lydia Snyder, was Alaskan Yup'ik, while her father, Thomas Gardiner, had immigrated to Alaska from Scotland. Hammond's maternal Yup'ik grandparents both died in the 1918 flu pandemic, which devastated Native Alaskan communities, and her mother had been raised in an orphanage in Kanakanak.
Hammond was raised in Kanakanak, located about six miles from Dillingham, and attended the village's one room schoolhouse. Fishing was an important part of her family's lifestyle. When she was around 12-years old, a school teacher in Aleknagik, who suffered from a heart condition, asked her parents if Bella could spend the winter at her home to look after her children.
The public source identifies “Bella Hammond” as american politician. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Bella, Hammond and American.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q89304697. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1932, 2020, 1974 and 1982.
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