Remembering Mom: Meeting Loren Hancock

Mom was quite active in the PTA when we were in school. She served several years as the president of the PTA at Fawcett elementary school. They would hold their regular meetings at the school, and she was often down at Central school attending school board meetings. However, for special events, planning committees would form and meet at the home of one of the members. It was probably 1968 that the Halloween party planning committee met at the home of Elaine Hancock. 

When Mom got home from the meeting, it was not the plans for the party she wanted to tell Dad about. What shocked her, and probably all the other mothers in attendance, was what Elaine's crazy husband, Loren, said. Mom told Dad that the meeting had pretty much ended, and the group had begun talking about costumes they were going to wear. Loren walked in on that discussion. 

"You'll never believe what he said," she told him. "He said you can all shove sticks up your asses and go as popsicles." 

Dad probably wasn't sure whether he should chuckle at the good humor or be offended by this guy telling his wife to shove a stick up her ass, but I imagine it was a bit of both feelings. I don't how Mom felt at the time, but I imagine she was also unsure how to feel about meeting Loren. 

The apprehension didn't last. Mom and Dad and Loren and Elaine soon became best friends. They also became godparents to each other's children. 

Loren had worked at Hygrade and for himself as an independent truck driver and then a broker. His final job was as an ordained minister. He would regularly substitute for vacationing ministers, but he eventually got his own church in the Larchmont area. 

His gift for easing the pain for others was amazing. His ability to shift his love and concern for one family facing loss to another family without it seeming to take its toll on him was simply incredible. 

Loren suffered a fatal heart attack at his church in Larchmont on June 29, 2009. The modest facility could not hold the crowd that gathered for his funeral. The minister who eulogized him had to speak loudly enough so those who were seated in the dining room and who remained in the foyer might also hear about him.

Today is Loren's 85th birthday, and I am thinking about my godfather. 

He was always charismatic, even though his style changed from his days at Hygrade to when he was a minister. He could walk into a room and change the mood, just like he did when he told the group of women to shove sticks up their asses and go to a Halloween party as popsicles the day that Mom and Loren met!