Roy Coy Hancock

Roy Coy Hancock, age 86 of Lecanto, passed away on Saturday, March 20th in Lecanto, Florida. Roy was born in Bowling Green, Florida, in 1935 to Uriah Sterling and Minnie Ola (Nobles) Hancock. Roy was known by those close to him as a friendly, strong, fiercely independent, man who loved, cared for and provided for his family and friends.

In his early years, Roy enjoyed being a true “Florida Native Son”, roaming the woods around Lacoochee and Dade City with his friends, the Bryant boys and other local youths. He loved fishing on the Withlacoochee River. He often would tell exciting stories of “noodling” catfish, or in other words, catching catfish by hand while wading along the river bank and trying to avoid being eaten by alligators. In his late teens and twenties, he loved fast cars and for years, held the record for the fastest crossing of the old wooden bridge across the Withlacoochee. As did many of the residents of Lacoochee during his youth, he went to work at the Cummer and Sons Cypress Company sawmill cutting huge cypress trees into lumber and making shipping boxes for Florida oranges and other fresh produce to be shipped by train to the north. In later years, he loved attending the annual Lacoochee reunion where he told tall tales of hot rod cars, his days around Lacoochee and good times working at the “mill.” He held several other jobs in the orange and agricultural industries throughout Central Florida.

Roy married the love of his life, Eddie Mae (better known as “Aunt Mary”) Copeland and lived in Dade City. He and Mary later moved to the Homosassa area where Roy took a job with Florida Power working on the construction and operation of the Crystal River Nuclear Plant. He worked in several jobs during his long tenure there, with one of the final jobs he held being a Quality Control Inspector. Roy and Mary were married for over thirty-five years before her death in 2006. Roy continued to live in and around Citrus County for the remainder of his life.

Roy is survived by his stepson Jim Copeland; niece, Gail (Kirk Williams) Bryant; nephew, Leroy Mosley; nephews, Carlton Hancock and Derrick Hancock; sisters-in-laws, Josephine Seward and Mattie Hancock; longtime partner and companion, Linda Strickland, her son Jack (Katie Long) Strickland, and granddaughter Tailiah Strickland. In addition to his parents, he is preceded in death by his brothers, Milton Hancock and John Hancock; and his sisters, Maxine Mosley and Victoria Bryant Boles.

Visitation will be held at 10am and Funeral Service at 11am on Wednesday, March 31, 2021 at Wilder Funeral Home, 4890 S Suncoast Blvd., in Homosassa. A graveside service will follow immediately at the Crystal River Memorial Park Cemetery, 8202 W Venable St. in Crystal River.