Bella Hammond

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.

Bella Hammond took an active interest in her role as first lady. In 1975, Hammond established the First Lady's Volunteer Awards to recognize Alaskan volunteers and their charitable contributions to the state. Since its establishment by Hammond, the First Lady's Volunteer Awards have honored hundreds of individual Alaskans.

Hammond was diagnosed with breast cancer during the governor's second term. In August 2008, then-Governor Sarah Palin honored Bella Hammond, as well as former first ladies Neva Egan, Ermalee Hickel, Susan Knowles and Nancy Murkowski, at an official ceremony and luncheon to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Alaskan statehood.

During the 2012 Alaska state elections, Bella Hammond endorsed a bipartisan slate of lawmakers running for re-election to the Alaska Senate. Bella Hammond and former Alaska First Lady Ermalee Hickel partnered to re-establish "Backbone Alaska", a political group which had originally been established in 1999 by former governors Jay Hammond and Wally Hickel to oppose perceived oil company concessions by then-Governor Tony Knowles' administration during the merger of BP and ARCO.

In 2017, Bella Hammond was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters by the University of Alaska Anchorage.

On September 6, 2018, the National Park Service officially named 2.6 million acres of Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, located near Hammond's home, as the Jay S. Hammond Wilderness Area. Bella Hammond and other family members attended the ceremony.

Bella Hammond died on February 29, 2020, at the age of 87. She was survived by her daughters, Heidi and Dana, and stepdaughter, Wendy Hammond.