FRANKLIN W HANCOCK III


OXFORD - Franklin Wills Hancock III, a former state senator from Oxford, died Monday, Dec. 29, 2008. Funeral service will be private.

He was born in Oxford, the eldest of the seven children of the late Congressman Frank W. Hancock Jr. and Lucy Landis Hancock.

He served in WWII, after which he joined his father and brothers in tobacco farming and commercial and real estate development. In 1947, he represented Granville County in the N.C. House of Representatives, and in 1951, he was elected to the N.C. Senate and served there until 1967.

Surviving: wife, Mary Kathryn (Kay) Forester Hancock; son, F. Willis Hancock IV of Oxford; daughters, Mary Helen H. Edwards of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., Lucy H. Bode of Raleigh, and Patricia Peyton Hancock of Louisburg; brothers, Robert D. Hancock and Alex H. Hancock; sisters, Mariana H. Kuester of Charlotte and Lucy H. Moore of Oxford; 10 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

He was predeceased by a brother, Charles H. Hancock, and a sister, Lizzie H. Faulkner.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Franklin Wills Hancock Scholarship Fund, c/o Wills Hancock IV, P. O. Box 87, Oxford, NC 27565.