Music Was Breath and Blood for Hannah

by the Family of Hannah Lammie

Music was breath and blood for Hannah Lammie, a gifted singer, inspired librarian, humanitarian, and devoted wife, mother, sister, and daughter. Even before she was born in Connecticut, on Feb. 19, 1973, she absorbed the sounds and vibrations of great orchestral music, church classics, and flute lessons, as her mother Sally pursued her own musical career. With her sisters, Emily and Sarah, Hannah listened to folk music by such performers as Pete Seeger, Judy Collins and Bob Dylan. After moving to the Toledo area with her family, she became acquainted with her grandfather Ed Gravett’s collection of classic jazz LPs featuring Jack Teagarden, the Dorsey brothers, Louis Armstrong, Paul Whiteman’s big band and other jazz legends, as well as the brilliant band led by comic Spike Jones. 

Growing up in the Old West End, she sang everywhere she could: in church choirs, the Central Catholic Glee Club, and choirs in Germany while an exchange student. She starred in theater productions at CCHS, sang in the Honors choir at the University of Toledo, and performed in church choirs across the Toledo area as a ringer, under directors including Steve Wipfli and Wayne Anthony. She was a regular patron at Rusty's Jazz Cafe with her best friend A. Leigh Cousino, where they were fans of Ray and Gene Parker, Jimmy Cook, Sean Dobbins, Mark Keiswetter, the Bob Rex Trio, and the visiting jazz artists. She was a fan of the Cakewalkin’ Jass Band at Tony Packo's, and of Murphy’s in downtown Toledo, as well as the clubs in Toledo’s punk scene, like the Cyprus Lounge and Frankie’s. 

She had an ease about music that not many people possess. She could sing anything, and she loved all music or would at least give it a chance. As a student at UT, she DJed on the college radio station, and throughout the ’80s and ’90s she made mix tapes for family and friends that might combine grunge rock with Patsy Cline with Pergolesi with old-school Midwest funk. When music went digital, she would send links, so many links, that turned into a legendary playlist. Her kids are keeping that tradition alive.

She was a fan of WGTE’s Jazz Spectrum throughout her life, as a steady presence every Saturday night. “Turn on WGTE right now!!!” she would text. She loved the old big band hour, New Orleans–style jazz, piano jazz, any music with funk and soul — and she adored a great female vocalist, starting with her friend A. Leigh, who came in from Chicago to sing with Hannah’s family and friends at her bedside, on her untimely passing on October 5, 2025. Music played her in and out of this life. To her, music was the highest form of communication and community, linking her to people all over the world and throughout time.