Clayton Raymond Hancock

Clayton Raymond Hancock was born in Port Crane, NY on April 9, 1919 and passed away, from natural causes, on December 2, 2015 in Clearwater. Florida. He was predeceased by his wife Kathryn Calkin Hancock (August 21, 1920-November 12, 1983) and by his son Barry Alan Hancock (September 20, 1942-January 16, 2007); he will be buried beside her in Cotuit, Cape Cod, Massachusetts. He is survived by his sister, Dorothy Jane Mandigo (Vestal, New York), his daughters Faith Simolari (Sarasota, Florida), Karen Nelson (Alfred, Maine), and Joyce Suttin (San Antonio, Texas), 15 grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren, and numerous extended family members. He graduated from Central High School in Binghamton, NY in 1937 and married Kathryn in 1939. Self-employed as a sheep farmer, he also worked for Hancock Dairy and Dairylea Inc. until he and Kathryn retired to Cape Cod, Massachusetts. He has resided in Top of the World, Clearwater, Florida since 2003. Fiercely independent and sharp-witted until the end, he will be remembered for his keen observations about the world around him, his wry sense of humor, and his devotion to family and friends. Memorial Service will be held at Sylvan Abbey Funeral Home, Clearwater, Sunday December 20 at 1pm. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Salvation Army. Dad’s Wisdom Recreation at 87: Everybody needs something they love to do and do well. I like playing pool. It gets me out and about. It's all about planning and precision, not strength and agility. If I get tired I can just lean against the table. Sometimes these kids come along and think, "I'll whip this old duffer!" It sure is fun putting them in their place! They aren't so cocky after getting whipped by an old man in front of their friends, and it changes their perspective of senior citizens. Health: At 87— I'm in pretty good health. I go for a walk and play pool every day. I spend my mornings at the senior citizen's center and have my lunch there. Then I go home and rest a bit. My legs are a little shaky, but my eyes are good and I can still drive, thank God. I am careful when I walk, but I'll be darned if I'll use a walker or a cane. Sometimes I use my pool cue. I've quit climbing on roofs and ladders, though. I'll pay one of the neighbor boys to do that for me. I don't try to do everything myself, but I still like hard work and staying active. I eat well. I have kept diabetes at bay for 15 years by just cutting out soda, junk food, and sugary snacks. I eat simply, including lots of fruit and vegetables. The keys to a healthy life are to eat well, not smoke or drink much, avoid medicines that have potentially serious side effects, and stay active because being overweight puts a lot of strain on your body and when you are older you just can’t carry all that extra weight around without things beginning to fall apart Staying sharp in your 90’s: Some seniors I know, sad to say, haven't had an original thought in 15 years. They just sit and watch TV and vegetate. Me, I like people. I like to meet new people and talk with them and listen to their points of view. I keep abreast of what's going on in the world, and I like discussing politics—not that I trust the politicians, but it keeps me sharp. Fatherhood: If I have one regret after all these years, one thing I wish I could change, it is that I was so busy when you kids were small that I barely remember that time. I worked so hard, and time just got by me. I don't remember talking to you or listening, really. I let your mother do that. If I could do it over again, I'd slow down and enjoy those years when you were children. I'm older now—I've outlived your mother by 30 years—but I feel like I still don't know how to talk to you, and I feel like I've missed half of your lives. I've lived a very long, very good life, and I have been blessed in many ways. I have had four wonderful children. I am so proud of you all. You're each so different, so talented in different ways. You are caring, giving people, and you have all chosen a life in which you are doing something for others. I am proud to be your father. I think that when you live your life thinking about others that is what a charmed life is after all. Faith and Growing older: I'm getting older, and I keep thinking, Lord, it seems like I read one obituary after another. Three more of my friends didn't make it through the winter. Did You forget me? I feel like I am missing out on something here! It pays to have a sense of humor at my age. Sometimes life hasn't been easy, but I've had my faith. It isn't something I've talked about much, but it's what has kept me. I've always known the Lord loved me and that if I was in a serious accident falling off a barn roof or a car accident or became critically ill He would take me home when the time was right. My biggest job of the day is lifting myself up off this chair, but that's what you get for living so long, but what can I say, it's probably better than the alternative. I'm old enough to die but I just haven't figured out how to do it yet. I have had a lot of practice living, though. I am so surprised that I lived to be 96 and never could have imagined it. I had to have a kidney removed in my seventies because I had cancer and I thought, OK, this is it. I’m ready to go. But I recovered and have gone on to live twenty more years. I have such vivid dreams. I have to tell you it is a perk of growing old that your dreams become so real. Sometimes I wake up in the morning and my dreams have been so real that I am surprised to be alive another day. But I am thankful. I am in no pain and have my faculties—Well, that is debatable! (Chuckle!) But I wake up and I am glad to be alive and I sing because I am happy. November 29, 2015: I don’t know. I just don’t understand why I have lived this long and just keep on living. I wish I could just wake up one morning then go off peacefully into one of my dreams. I am so ready. (Dad would move to the recliner by the front door and spend time in the early morning watching the sun lighten the sky and listening to the birds. Then he would go again at sunset when it had cooled a bit and comment on the clouds turning pink.) Isn’t it beautiful! I just love it here. I sit here in the morning and most every evening to watch the sunset and feel the breeze and listen to the birds. Sometimes I watch the geckos, or the neighbor’s dogs come by and greet me. I sit and look at that flag to see the breeze and I think to myself that I am so thankful. I have lived a good, long life in a country where I have had the freedom to be myself and make my own choices. I’ve had a good life. I couldn’t think of anywhere better to be living than “On Top of the World.”