By Desiree Williams
From real estate to farm work to sales, Barbara Hancock had many talents, but she dedicated much of her time to painting rocks.
“She always had this thing about art,” said John Hancock, her husband of nearly 40 years. “She did through school. She never had any training. She was just an artist and born that way. She started out doing oil paintings and stuff like that and started doing this rock painting.”
John and Barbara met in 1974 while they were both in the printing business. They were married one year later on July 4, 1975.
While they were living in Eagle Village in 2002, their neighbor bought a 25-acre property and turned it into a driving range. The rock was excavated from the property during construction, and Barbara was hired to paint it. When the owner sold the property at auction, he also sold the rock.
In 2015, Barbara died after a battle with cancer. At that point, John had lost track of the rock but decided to locate it in memory of his wife.
“It’s almost like she was telling me,” John said. “That might sound far-fetched, but I made up my mind that I was going to do everything I could for the rest of my life to honor her and her abilities.”
After a year of searching, John traced the rock from the auction to a Carmel home. The family donated the rock back to him last winter. John reached out to Lynn Kissel with ZCS to see if the school would accept it as a donation.
“They’re called the Eagles. This is an Eagle rock. It started out in Zionsville at Eagle Village. It just made sense to me that it should be up there,” John said.
The rock has been in front of the Educational Services Center since early spring. John will buy materials to provide for the art class in August so students can bring the rock back to life.
“I just want her recognized,” John said. “That’s my goal, is to recognize her talent and her ability. Like I said, that rock is going to be there long after I’m gone.”
