When riding over the MoPac Bridge above North 27th Street, remember its namesake and visionary founder who dreamed of building a network of trails across Nebraska: Elaine Hammer.Â
"She was a force of nature," said Susan Rodenburg, SLR Communications president and Hammer's longtime friend. "Without Elaine, we wouldn't have 134 miles of trail throughout Lincoln and Lancaster County; Lincoln would be a very different place. My career and life would be way less full and rewarding without her. When I tell the story of Lincoln’s trails system, it always starts with Elaine Hammer, 'the mother of Lincoln’s Trails System.'"
Hammer, who founded the Great Plains Trails Network in 1988, died Oct. 19 at 86 years old.Â
According to Gary Bentrup, fundraising chair for the Great Plains Trails Network, her energy and passion for her work was infectious.Â
"When I first joined, the last thing I wanted to do was fundraising," Bentrup said. "The idea of going out and asking people for money, it just wasn't something I wanted to do. But working with Elaine, I caught her enthusiasm and realized this is something we can support and encourage people to support if they have the ability."Â
Bentrup met Hammer after being introduced to the trails network board by a friend in 2006. On the board since its founding, Hammer was involved in fundraising, and the two worked together on a multitude of projects over the years. Hammer became a mentor-figure in his life.Â
Since 1988, the trails network raised over $5 million from grants, individuals and local partners, Bentrup said.Â
"She was the ringleader for the network," Bentrup said. "Sometimes, nonprofits will start up and run out of steam, lose enthusiasm. GPTN has only gotten stronger, and Elaine had a huge hand in keeping that enthusiasm going."
Rodenburg said Hammer's idea to create the network emerged from a 1987 Star Venture workshop, where community leaders gathered to discuss what they wanted Lincoln to look like in the future.
Hammer gathered a variety of people to serve on the board, including Rodenburg and her husband, who owned a bike shop at the time, along with an equestrian, a runner, a pediatrician, a physical therapist, an attorney, a teacher and more. She wanted all the different user groups to be represented.Â
"One of her greatest abilities was finding people who shared her vision and empowering them to be leaders together," Rodenburg said. "Elaine was the common thread. Other leaders have moved in and out, it took a lot of people to bring her vision to life, but she's been a relentless common thread the whole time."
Everyone close to Hammer knew she didn't want the spotlight, she preferred to be in the background. That didn't stop Lincoln from naming the North 27 bridge of the MoPac Trail in her honor — something Rodenburg said was "nothing short of a miracle."
The MoPac Trail project was one that got the trails network going in the early years and one that persisted for decades after. Originally an abandoned railroad line that came up for sale, Hammer and her husband teamed up with the Rodenburgs and several others to purchase the land. To generate the $275,000 needed — worth $625,000 today — the group took out mortgages on their homes.Â
"Every time I ride on that trail, I think, 'I can't believe we did that,'" Rodenburg said.
The use of railroad lines as trail systems was still new at the time, current volunteer and past trails network President Karen Griffin said.Â
"She had such an incredible passion to connect with the community in a way that hadn't been done before," Griffin said. "She was always a step ahead of everyone. It takes someone getting out there and seeing the community as a whole.Â
It wasn't enough to just buy the railroad. They still needed the funding to develop it, leaving the trail perpetually in a state of development for years. This past April, the Legislature appropriated $8.3 million to finish a gap to connect the Lincoln and Omaha portions.Â
"She didn't get to see the trail done, but she knew that her longtime vision was finally being realized," Bentrup said. "I don't think she ever would've been finished. She was always looking for the next project, the next connection."
Hammer would continuously ride the trails, looking for spots needing maintenance or possible expansions. She was an amazing visionary and unwilling to take the credit for it, Griffin said.Â
Hammer's legacy goes beyond the vast trails network. She continuously served on the Mayor's Pedestrian/Bicycle Advisory Committee, the lower Platte South NRD Board and other local organizations. Often, when visitors seeking to emulate the trail system or wanted to talk to her about the work that went into it arrived, she'd lead the groups on tours around the city and county.
"I don't want her to be forgotten, and I don't think she will be," Rodenburg said. "She's probably up there in heaven right now, planning a trail system."
Elaine was preceded in death by her parents and her husband, Richard Hammer. She is survived by her sisters, Lois Geeslin, Ellen McLean and Grace Miller; her brother, Dale Fogle; and her three sons and their families, Mark, Carol, Jordan and Sage Hammer; Ken and Dane Hammer; and Charles Hammer, Sandra Baez, Cecilia Hammer and Lila Hammer.
A celebration of life will be held on November 12 at 11 a.m. at First Plymouth Congregational Church in Lincoln. In honor of Hammer, her family asks people to consider supporting the Great Plains Trails Network.