HANCOCK, Melvin Melvin “Mel” E. Hancock, 91, of Hudsonville, was born March 30, 1929, in Toronto, Ontario, and passed peacefully to his eternal home on March 8, 2021. He was preceded in death his first wife, Mary Ellen; parents, Ernest and Nellie Hancock; dear daughter-in-law, Sharon Hancock; siblings, Isabel, Howard, Ruby, all of Ontario, Canada. Melvin and Mary Ellen raised their two sons, Richard (Virginia) Hancock and Robert Hancock, and daughter Janice Hancock (and good friend Teresa Hellewell) in Canada and around the world, wherever his engineering projects with CN Railroad took them.
Retirement took him to Florida where, after Mary Ellen’s passing, he met and married Norene De Kock-Lubbinge.
He loved his “American family” of Norene’s daughters, Eloise (Boyd) Mackus, Collene (Alan) Van Noord, Gwen (Calvin) VanTimmeren, and Nancy (Desmond) Noteboom. Melvin is also survived by 6 grandchildren; 2 great-grandchildren; 7 step- grandchildren; 7 step-great-grandchildren. Anyone who met Mel gained a friend. He was a storyteller extraordinaire who shared his adventures and experiences from living in Canada, Nigeria, the US and Mexico, in addition to travelling through Europe. Everyday activities also became fodder for his entertaining stories. Mel was proud of his two beautiful marriages, his children and their families, becoming a naturalized US citizen in 2005, his accomplishments in his career, but mostly his faith in Jesus Christ as his personal Savior for 80 years.
Mel wrote hundreds of pages in his memoir which he completed just days before his passing, with his most important chapter of giving his life to the Lord at age 11. “I thanked the Lord… I will never forget the happiness that filled my soul.” Funeral services have taken place. Memorial contributions may be made to the American or Canadian Cancer Society or Hospice of Holland.