Phyllis Thomason Hancock

Phyllis Thomason Hancock, age 92, passed away on October 26 in Indianapolis. She was born January 7, 1929 in Rock Hill, SC. She was preceded in death by all of her siblings, her loving husband Vernon Hancock (2005), and by her constant feline companion, Chili.

Phyl (as she is known to friends and family) is survived by her daughter Diane Hancock, Phil (number Two) Black, and granddaughters, Laura and Christie Wilkerson.

The youngest of five children, Phyl came from an educated family. Both of her parents had post-graduate degrees, and her father was a professor of Rural Education at Winthrop University. Her brother John was a nuclear physicist at Oak Ridge and her brother Tommy was a full Colonel in the Army. When her mother was too ill to care for her at the age of 15, she went to live with her older sister Ruth (a librarian) and her family, in Spartanburg, SC, where she played on the high school’s ping-pong team. Her niece, Lynn, said she didn’t even know that Phyl wasn’t her own sister until much later.

Phyl graduated from Winthrop College, class of 1949, and in 1950 graduated from the School of Medical Technology in Charleston, SC. She worked as a lab technician for a Charlotte Hospital in her twenties. Later, she met her husband Vernon, a WWII veteran, at a bus stop, on the way to a shared destination in North Carolina.

In 1958, Diane was born to Phyl and Vern, and the duo became a trio. They were good parents who worked hard to provide their daughter with many opportunities such as piano lessons, and nice summer camps in the Carolinas. Due to Vern’s work, the family lived in many places, including Baltimore, Racine (WI), Cedar Rapids (IA), Frankfort (IL) and finally Carmel, IN where the couple settled down for good. During this time, they were bitten by the travel bug and visited many interesting destinations, including many Caribbean Islands, the Canary Islands, Spain and Morocco.

Phyl worked at St. Vincent’s Carmel from its opening until the mid-nineties. She was a member of St. Christopher’s Episcopal church. Her interests included watching football, cats, playing bridge, Bible studies, and watching her family members garden. She and Vern took a great interest in religious education of their granddaughters, Laura and Christie, and took them to church every weekend when they were younger.

A public memorial service will be held Tuesday, November 23 at 1pm at St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church on Carmel’s Main Street. A combined visitation/reception will follow the service from 1:30-3:00pm in St. Christopher’s Parish Hall.

In lieu of flowers, please send memorial contributions to St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.leppertmortuarynora.com.