Sherrie Hancock

On Saturday, October 29, 2022, Sherrie Lynn Hancock (Spencer) died following a brief and unexpected stay at the Mercy Hospital in Springfield, Missouri, just a few days after her sixty-third birthday.

Sherrie was born to Norbert and Shirley Spencer in Columbus, Ohio on October 24, 1959. It was here that she met her lifelong love and husband, Timothy Coleman Hancock, when they were both in the fourth grade. Tim and Sherrie were married on July 21, 1979, in Commercial Point, Ohio, and four children were born to this union: Timothy Daniel, Aaron Leland, Lynn Marie, and David Kyle. When the children were quite young, the family relocated to Mountain Grove, Missouri.

Both Tim and Sherrie were raised in families where a great love of music was cultivated, and they established the same in their home from the beginning, with Sherrie teaching the four children to sing and perform together for church and family functions.

Sherrie was an accomplished pianist and had a clear soprano solo voice; she took special delight in playing the piano for church services, singing in the choir, and performing as a soloist. Her love of music reached beyond her family into the Mountain Grove community, where for several decades she taught piano privately, and accompanied vocal and instrumental soloists and ensembles in the school band and choral programs.

When her four children were school-age, Sherrie completed a Bachelor of Education in Library Science, while simultaneously working one or two part-time jobs, and nurturing her family. She subsequently took great pride in her role as Librarian of the Mountain Grove Elementary School from 1996 until her retirement in 2017, instilling her great love for books and reading in many young minds.

A diagnosis of cancer at age 48 was met by an outpouring of love, prayer, and support from her family and community. In the fifteen years following her treatment and recovery she took great delight in her family and especially her grandchildren, all of whom were born during this time: Aria Jo, Cres Dale, Rosalin Rashell, Isabella Marie, Henley Rose, John Greenleaf, and Coleman Kyle. During these years she and Tim moved from their home in Mountain Grove to a beautiful rural setting near Vanzant, Missouri, where they designed and built a home from which they enjoyed the splendor of the surrounding Ozarks landscape—especially, the sunsets.

Sherrie was skilled in the art of crochet, and her love for this craft resulted in a creative and prolific legacy of treasured handiwork generously gifted to family and friends, and particularly, for her grandchildren.

A far greater legacy is left in the strong and constant witness of her deep and abiding faith in God—the foundations of which had been well laid by her parents and grandparents—and which grew deeper and more evident with each passing year. From this reserve she shared freely for the encouragement and edification of her family, friends, and those who were in need.

Sherrie could be characterized as quiet, gracious, and perhaps even unassuming. However, these were matched by an underlying strength, independence, skill, and determination which she consistently channeled into acts of kindness, devotion, and service to her God, her family, and her community.

Sherrie was preceded in death by her father Norbert (January 2022) and is survived by her mother Shirley; loving husband Tim; siblings Pamela Edwards (Scott), Julianne Cymbalak (Mark), and Michael Spencer (Julie); her four children and their spouses: Daniel and Samantha Koch Hancock, Aaron and Kayla Hancock, Stephen and Lynn Mathews, and David and Nicole Hancock; seven grandchildren; and a whole host of family and kindred friends who loved her well.

Although her death was sudden and unexpected, Sherrie left behind signposts as to her readiness to meet her Maker, including this which was inscribed in the front of her Bible: “When I die, do not play Taps over my grave; instead, play Reveille, the morning call, the summons to arise.”

Her family is deeply and profoundly grateful for the prayers and support of her friends and extend a welcome to visitation calling hours from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 3, and funeral services at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, November 4, both at the First Baptist Church of Mountain Grove, Missouri, with interment to follow in Hillcrest Cemetery.

“Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her.”

“A woman who honors the LORD is greatly to be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.”