Anthony Peter Hamann. He was born 26 September 1909 in Orange County, California. His parents were Anton, a farmer born in October 1853 in France, and Margretta Kumeth (nee Sechelsteil; she had been born in February 1869 in Germany) Hamann. His parents had married 16 July1895 in Orange, California. He had at least seven older siblings and one younger brother; Richard Joseph, b. 12 May 1895, Margaret, b. 9 November 1897, Anna Elizabeth, b. 16 January 1899, Mary Theresa, b. 1900, Alfonse Michael, b. 12 June 1902, Ada (Edith) D., b. 1904, Gertrude Catherine, b. 8 March 1906, and Joseph Andrew, b. 22 July 1911. ‘/he/….first came to the Santa Clara Valley in 1928 when he enrolled at SCU. He was both secretary and president of the SCU student body, and graduated from the university in 1931. Several years later, Hamann earned his law degree at Loyola University in Southern California. He then stayed on campus, teaching English and history while coaching both the football and basketball teams, until 1937.
In 1933, he married his first wife, the former Mary Jane Parker. They had one child, Anthony P. Hamann, Jr……Mrs. Hamann died in 1961…because of polio….In April 1962, Hamann married his second wife, Frances, who was with him on the ill-fated Pan American jumbo jet in the Canary Islands. Hamann returned to the University of Santa Clara in 1937 to becom (sic) publicity director executive secretary of the alumni association. He next worked as a district manager for Chevrolet for three years. During World War II, he served in the Navy, advancing to the rank of lieutenant commander. After the war, he returned to the SCU to become university business manager, then became division manager for General Motors with offices in Oakland. A short time later, Hamann returned to SCU for a third time to become executive secretary to the university president. He resigned this post in July 1949 to become Salinas area distributor for Union Oil Co. The following year, Hamann was hired by San Jose to run city government during its years of tremendous growth. In 1969, at the age of 60, Hamann retired as city manager to become vice president for development at SCU…” (San Jose Mercury? Undated, about 30 or 31 March 1977)
‘A. P. ‘Dutch’ Hamann, once city manager at San Jose, had been serving as president at the University of Santa Clara since 1969. He was 67 years old. Hamann and his wife, Frances, were traveling with Wilber (sic) and LaNelle Cox of San Jose and Joe and Glovie Reiter of Los Altos. (Cal. Newspaper March/April 1977) In 1977, the Hamanns lived at 1774 Wilcox Way, San Jose. Mr. and Mrs. Hamann and their travelling companions were killed in the 1977 jumbo jet crash at Tenerife. The material presented on this page has been researched by Peter Engberg-Klarström. Copyright 2017 Peter Engberg-Klarström. Feel free to use the research, but please refer to my research if used in publications or if published or posted on other pages on the Internet.
Peter's Tenerife crash page 
Thanks, Peter for going back and revealing some of my past history to me. My son, Peter Anthony Hamann is named after his deceased “Uncle Dutch”. For the sake of avoiding confusion, I switched the first and middle names around. Dutch Hamann also has a son who was last living in San Jose, California. I think his son would be very interested in your biography of his late father.
Kindest regards,
Michael Hamann
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I have just a few memories of my Uncle Dutch. I am the youngest daughter of his youngest brother Joseph ( born 1911 -2003). I remember traveling to San Jose as a child snd meeting my aunt Maryjane and cousin “Butch. Since all or most of the Hamann lived in Orange, we didn’t visit often ,but my dad would call and spread the news when asked,” has anyone heard from Dutch ?”
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