Lee R. “Sunny” Hancock, Jr.

OBITUARY:

May 22, 2003: The Lake County Examiner <http://www.lakecountyexam.com/> printed this obituary (reprinted with their permission):

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Lee R. “Sunny” Hancock

Lee R. “Sunny” Hancock, Jr., 72, passed away Thursday, May 15 after a short battle with cancer.

Sunny was born to Lee Roy and Flora (Tissaw) Hancock, Sr. at Williams, Ariz. on Feb. 5, 1931.  He grew up in the Williams area where he attended school before attending the University of Flagstaff for one year.

He enlisted into the Navy in 1950 and served aboard the Carrier, USS Lake Champlain and was honorably discharged in 1953.  He moved to Medford from Arizona in 1956 where he met Alice Johnson and they were married in Ashland on May 3, 1958.  His experience as a a “cow puncher” during his early years and his love of the great outdoors brought him to Paisley in 1961 to work for the Bud Currier and Red Withers ranches before going to the ZX Ranch in 1963 where he finished his buckaroo career as cow boss.  He moved to Lakeview and worked for Weyerhaeuser Co. and operated his own ranch until retiring in 1993.

Sunny was a well known Cowboy Poet and has been a participant in the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nev. since its beginning in 1985.  He has shared his poetry with many audiences from Washington D.C. to the West Coast, and was much admired and loved by his fellow poets.

He is survived by his wife, Alice Hancock of Lakeview; son and daughter-in-law, Jeffrey “Jake” Leland and Rhonda Hancock of Lakeview; daughter and son-in-law, Vicki and Randy Huck of Culver; sister, Norma Shihady; sister and brother-in-law, Alex and Betty Macias; grandchildren, Kati Lynn Huck, Alaina Dawn Hancock, Annie Renee Hancock, Kevin Lee Huck and Aaron Leland Hancock; great-granchild, Logan Lee Huck and numerous nieces and nephews.

A service celebrating his life was held Sunday, May 18 at the Lakeview Eagles Lodge.  Military honors were provided by the Lakeview VFW Post 4070.  Private inurnment will be at a later date.

   Your recollections are welcome. Email us
 <mailto:sunny@cowboypoetry.com>.

Obituary reproduced courtesy of The Lake County Examiner.

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BIOGRAPHY:
http://www.cowboyminer.com/hoofprints.html

SUNNY HANCOCK

Sunny was introduced to poetry in grade school when he got hold of a Robert Service book.  Later on, around the wagon or bunkhouse he says, there wasn't much for entertainment and most every old cowboy knew a little poetry.  Contrary to what people think there were very few singing cowboys.  If a wagon crew had raised their voices in song Sunny says it would have sounded like a bunch of sick bullfrogs.  Sunny went to the first Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko Nevada in 1985 and has been going back ever since.  He recites other peoples poetry and writes some of his own as well. He performs in many poetry gatherings and shows.

Sunny was raised on a little greasy-sack outfit near Williams, Arizona.  He left home when he was pretty young, because, as he says "I was just another mouth to feed".  Sunny cowboyed on several outfits in several states and wound up in Oregon.  There he married his wife Alice and they raised their two children.  Sunny worked for various ranches there and wound up his cowboying career running the cows for the ZX outfit out of Paisley.  When Sunny left the ZX he and his wife bought a little starve-out ranch near Lakeview and both went to work trying to make enough money to keep the old cows fed, and a little something on their table, as well.

About 1990 they got out of the cow business.  They currently live in a small house in Lakeview with a five acre pasture where they try to fatten enough steers in the summer to keep themselves in beef and sometimes pay taxes on the place.  Sunny enjoys the weather whatever it may be like.  He says, "this retirement is great.  When the weather gets cold you just turn up the thermostat and you're back in business"