4. My Grandmother

Willa Leonard Hancock
1881-1975

Grandma’s first stay in a hospital came when she was about 93 years old. I hadn’t seen her for a number of years. My sister Sonya asked her if she recognized her visitor. She raised her arm. “Yes, that’s my grandson Georgie. Who I don’t know is this person who’s name is on my wristband”.

Simultaneously, we spotted the nurse approaching with a tray of meds. Grandma had that ‘are you going to take care of this’ look on her face. The Jamaica Queens hospital got an earful that day. “This here is Willa Hancock in this bed; H-A-N-C-O-C-K. Got that?” Arrangements were made to get her out of there.

Willa’s church members, friends and neighbors cleaned her apartment while she was in the hospital. They awaited her return. However, her next stop was in a nursing home. Her room was cold. The view out her window was another building. The people were purple on her TV. She lasted two weeks. Grandma died of depression.

200 miles away, Willa’s daughter, Pearle, lay dying in Binghamton General Hospital. Cancer. Grandma would ask about her and we would be vague with our answers. My sister Elaine would tell me to catch the next greyhound and hurry home. I didn’t make it in time. Two days later, Grandma passed. I think she knew.

Willa Leonard was the daughter of Simon Leonard and Fannie Gibbs of South Carolina. Fannie died around 1886. Willa and her father, a chef at Claflin college, lived near or perhaps on the campus. Simon died there in 1909. Willa eventually became a teacher in Williston, SC. She would then meet and marry Jack Hancock.

This caused a big disappointment with Jack’s mother, Louisa Curry. She felt that Willa, not being a mulatto, was too dark complected for her son. George Hancock, the father of Louisa’s children, was white. They never married but Louisa gave the children his name. Grandma would go on to birth seven children with four surviving.