On July 24, 2014 Darrin’s brother and 3 of his kids were in a car accident in Eagle Mountain, UT when an oncoming car veered into their lane of traffic and hit them head on. Dave and the 2 boys were injured, and 15-year old Katie was killed instantly. We heard the news about 5pm. Darrin came right home from work, and we explained what had happened to the kids. We knelt in family prayer pleading for the health of Dave, Isaac, and James and for angels to surround their whole family. Our kids took the news okay. They asked a lot of questions and seemed to process it in their own way.
Upon hearing the news, we were immediately grateful for the week-long family reunion that had ended just 10 days before, where we had seen Katie and got to know her better. Over the last year or two she had matured into a beautiful young women. She was confident and seemed to have a clear direction in her life.
At the reunion, I witnessed her on more than one occasion, turning a potentially offensive and awkward situation in a positive one that seemed to roll off her back with no hard feelings.
She, Aaron, and Brianna volunteered to take Luke on the go-carts at Boondocks.
She always seemed happy, glad to be where she was and enjoying the moment.
At the 2011 reunion, Katie and Andrew were best buddies. They hung out (or in other words, Katie let Andrew tag along with her) a lot. They had so much fun doing the Alpine Slide, swimming, and doing who knows what else!
As soon as we heard the news, we had an immediate desire to be with family. So we decided we would head back to UT.
Friday the boys finished up cub camp, Saturday we packed, shopped, and got the yard/house work done in order to leave.
The kids worked all day around the house and in the yard to help earn money to donate to James’ laptop fund.
James had his laptop with him in the car at the time of the accident. It was in 4 pieces and obviously didn’t work anymore. All the cousins worked/pitched in money so they could buy him a new one for his birthday (on the 29th).
Sunday the 27th after church we took off for UT again just 2 weeks after we had got back from the first trip.
Chad and Julie were about 15 minutes ahead of us and a couple hours into the trip they texted and said they were at a stand still on the freeway. Darrin looked at the map and found a detour around the traffic issue that ended up in Pendleton. So we set off into the middle of no where of Oregon.
The detour ended up taking forever and added over an hour to our trip. We truly were in the middle of no where. I’m pretty sure we only saw 10 people the whole time. I just kept praying we wouldn’t hit a deer or have a medical emergency because cell service was sparse. Needless to say we made it to our hotel in Boise that night about 1:30am. I’ve never seen the kids fall asleep so fast at a hotel. lol.
Once we got to UT we put the kids to work snipping beans and picking apricots.
Tuesday the 29th we went to Steve and Lynette’s for dinner and had a birthday party for James. The cousins surprised him with the new laptop.
Darrin was able to pick out the laptop at Costco and found the perfect one…it had everything his old one had plus more. He made sure to get one with the computer chip that Mike, Chad and Darrin had made, so he could have part of his uncles inside of it.
When Max presented James with the box, he wasn’t sure what it was at first. And after awhile kept saying over and over, “This better not be a laptop…I know how much those cost.”
When he realized it was a laptop, he got very emotional. He was truly grateful for the gift. It meant so much to him. He said that he never wanted to take it out of the house and needed to buy another one that he could actually use. Later in the week, he had all the cousins sign the top of it with a silver Sharpie.
This experience was one on the most touching experiences I’ve had with giving and gratitude. To see him be that grateful for something the kids gave him was so special. It is definitely a moment I won’t forget. I love everyone else’s face in this picture. It truly is better to give than receive.
Then James gathered the cousins around for a group hug. What a special moment!
Wednesday July 30th was Katie’s funeral. Nothing can prepare you for the funeral of a young family member, but it was perfect celebration of Katie and her life.
Many of speakers talked about the change they had seen in Katie over the last 6 months. She went from thinking about herself to thinking about everyone else. She was honest, true, and loyal. She read her scriptures and said her prayers everyday. She wasn’t perfect, but was preparing herself to meet her Savior.
Katie was born in Murrieta, CA, on April 26, 1999. She lived in nearby San Jacinto where she attended Record Elementary School. Her family moved to Eagle Mt, UT, in August 2008, where she attended Hidden Hollow Elementary School. For middle and high school, Katie attended American Heritage School in American Fork where her father teaches 9th grade. She was to begin her sophomore year there on August 26, 2014.
Katie especially enjoyed her biology, art, music, and French classes, but not math, and is likely thrilled that she'll never have to finish her algebra class. Katie loved to draw: whenever she was sitting, she had a pen in hand to draw ponies and people with beautiful, far-seeing eyes, often on class notes and homework assignments. In June 2014, Katie attended her first Bikram Yoga class, and discovered a hidden passion. With the help of young women and men in her Rock Creek Ward, Katie completed her 30-Day Challenge on July 25, 2014: Namaste!
Above all, our Katie lived for laughter and love. She was often heard imitating different cultural accents, as well as imitating animal and fowl calls: she recently mastered the peacock to the point that the birds would come to her when she called, "Hello!" If Katie could make her family and friends smile and laugh, it didn't matter to her what any other person thought of her performance.
Monday evening, July 21, Katie attended a ball at the This Is the Place State Park village. She wore a golden gown and her lovely dark hair in ringlets. A posting on Instagram said, "Went to the ball tonight! Only thing missing was a dance with a prince!” It's telling that she chose a dress matching the YW color for virtue: Katie has always been, and will continue to be, true to her family, friends, and faith. Her family now has their own sleeping beauty.
Survived by her parents David and Elizabeth "Libby" Hancock of Eagle Mt., sisters Brittany Paine of Menifee, CA, and Aubrey Hancock of Salt Lake City, brothers James Hancock and Isaac Hancock of Eagle Mt., grandparents, Max and Joyce Hancock of Tooele, UT, and Farron and Alene Harrison of LaVerne, CA, currently in Bolivia. A nephew, a niece, 13 uncles, 11 aunts and 36 cousins.
This is Katie’s 30 day Yoga challenge chart. The green sticker was added by her friends on July 25th.
Katie’s parents and siblings let 15 white balloons go in her honor.
Ella loved all the flowers.
The dinner back at the church was fabulous. The tables had these balloons on them. Katie loved peacocks and her favorite color was turquoise. We all tried to wear turquoise at the funeral.
The pallbearers. So young to have to do a job like that.
My kids were so glad to get some food in their bellies. We were all starving.
Andrew adores these older cousins: Elijah, Max, Aaron, and Tyson
“Laugh when you can, apologize when you should and let go of what you can’t change. Kiss slowly, forgive quickly, play hard, take chances, give everything, and have no regrets. Life is too short to be unhappy.” --Katie Hancock
1 comment:
Thank you, Kim. This post is beautiful. It made me cry. <3
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