‘We need to share her story’ Conway student suicide leads to creation of endowment

CONWAY, Ark. – A family and school is making sure the story of one student lives on.

Hannah Jane Hammond was a 14-year-old Conway High School freshman in band and color guard who lost her battle with mental illness last school year when she took her life September 29, 2021.

Playing in unison April 25, the Conway High School Symphonic Band can still feel the loss. During its spring concert, suicide awareness received as loud of applause as any song when Band Director Nathan Cunningham announced the Hannah Jane Hammond Memorial Endowment.

"It was a tough moment for us," Richard Hammond, the father of Hannah Jane admitted.

"It's hard sitting in the audience, because we wish we were there to watch her with her peers," Leighia Hammond, Hannah Jane's mother added.

Both parents didn't get to hear their daughter's clarinet or watch her captain color guard as a sophomore, because she never made it past freshman year. Her struggle with mental illness ended with her taking her own life.

Suicides like Hannah Jane's are not uncommon. The latest statistics from the Centers for Disease Control show in 2020 suicide was the third-leading cause of death in teenag...