Frieda K. Hammermeister spent her life teaching.

She began with junior high students in Hawaii, then with high schoolers in Edgewood, later with deaf and hearing impaired students and finally with master's and Ph.D. candidates at the University of Pittsburgh.

But she never stopped learning herself.

A world traveler, Ms. Hammermeister visited all seven continents and continued taking classes long after she retired from Pitt in 1996.

Ms. Hammermeister, of Oakland, died Thursday at UPMC St. Margaret of an intestinal infection. She was 81.

A professor emerita in the special education department at Pitt, Ms. Hammermeister coordinated grants there and chaired the division of specialized development, said her brother, Rudy Hammermeister of Oakland.

Shirin Antia, who now teaches at the University of Arizona, had Ms. Hammermeister as an adviser as a graduate student at Pitt beginning in 1972.

She persuaded Ms. Antia, who came to Pitt from India, to continue with her doctorate and advised her through 1979.

Ms. Hammermeister had a way of getting what she wanted out of her students without seeming demanding, Ms. Antia said.

"Every time I was about to go over the edge, she would say, 'You know, you really should be enjoying this,'" Ms. Antia said of her studies. "She kept us in balance."

Before joining the faculty at Pitt, Ms. Hammermeister taught at the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf from 1954 to 1965.

In addition to teaching, another of her lifelong loves, her brother said, was adventure.

"She was a great traveler," Mr. Hammermeister said.

She took her first trip abroad to Europe at age 6 in 1932. Then, in 1948, she returned to Germany and France as a member of the American Youth Hostels group.

Her favorite trips, Mr. Hammermeister said, were to exotic places that were going through massive change.

She visited Papua, New Guinea, as well as pygmies in the Ituri Rainforest of Zaire, which is now the Republic of Congo.

She tried to take one big trip each year, her brother said, visiting Afghanistan in 1973, as well as Antarctica, China, Japan, Russia, New Mexico, India and several countries in Africa.

Ms. Hammermeister also spent a sabbatical from Pitt teaching in Australia.

A skilled photographer, her home was decorated with pictures of villages and ice blocks from her various destinations.

Her brother has all 15,000 of the slides she made, and he had to rent a storage locker to house them all.

"She photographed everything," Mr. Hammermeister said.

After her retirement, Ms. Hammermeister took classes through Carnegie Mellon University's lifelong learning program, and also studied German and Spanish at Pitt.

Arrangements are being handled by Wolfe Memorial Inc., Forest Hills Chapel. There is no public visitation, and a private graveside service will be held this morning

The family suggests donations to any charity, with specific recommendations for public schools, libraries or National Public Radio.