It’s interesting — and a little sad — what you learn at funeral homes and from obituaries.

The sad part comes in the sense that you often wish you had known what you learned a little sooner so you could have enjoyed talking about it with the person. At the funeral home, of course, it’s too late.

Such was the case Monday at Voss Chapel at the calling for Bill Hammett, who died over the weekend.

The Seymour man worked at The Tribune for about 40 years, setting hot type in his early years with the paper and later building ads on a computer.

While watching the slide show of photos from Bill’s life, a picture of Bill dancing with his wife, Marilyn, triggered a memory that Bill had once shared that he liked to dance and would, on occasion, stand up from his workstation and do a little air dance, showing a move or two.

Billy was a hoot and livened up what was then called the “back shop,” a place that no longer exists.

That memory of Bill air dancing prompted me to say something at the funeral home to Lynn Sutherland, a retired press operator, about Bill having given me the impression he was fast on his feet.

That in turn prompted Lynn’s sister-in-law, another former Tribune employee, to say that was indeed true and that Bill had taught her to dance at what was then called the Girls Club back in the 1970s.

I never knew that.

I knew Bill was an avid softball player and golfer and that he was involved with coaching youth sports, but I didn’t know he taught dance.

Just as I had never known until reading the obituary for Avis Hoevener that he enjoyed painting. Avis was another longtime Tribune employee. He died last year when I was out of town. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize he had died for a few months, learning of it when I happened across his obituary in a back issue of the paper.

That’s where I read that Avis enjoyed painting and that he was apparently pretty good at it.

I always enjoyed running into Avis and his wife  at Larrison’s or some other place in town since his retirement. I wish I’d known about him taking up painting. It would have been something else for us to talk about, and I’d have liked to have seen some of his works and asked what inspired him.

It all reminds me that I learned at Pop’s funeral back in 1979 that he was more engaged with my life than I knew.

That happened when some of his co-workers and card buddies said at the funeral home things such as “you’re the one who wants to be a writer, right?” and “so are you ready to start college and become a newspaper man?”

Yes, I was one who wanted to become a journalist, a writer, a newspaper man.

I guess I knew Pop was aware of those goals, but I’m not sure that I had ever thought it was something he’d talk about with his buddies. He always seemed too busy working, and working hard.

Again, it’s interesting what you learn at the funeral home or reading the obituaries.

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