Staff report
CNHI
THOMASVILLE —
In 1950, a group of Primitive Baptists led by J. Harley Chapman founded Birdwood Junior College, now Thomas University, in Thomasville. With a $10,000 gift from Vicey Harris, a member of a local Primitive Baptist Church, the college began. Over the next several years, other Primitive Baptists who believed in the college’s mission also supported Birdwood Junior College. One of those Primitive Baptists was Cora Williams Hancock.
Hancock graduated from Georgia State Normal School in Athens in 1912. She returned home to Thomas County where she was a high school teacher until 1919 when she married Boyd Emerson Hancock. Together, they had five children. Mrs. Hancock died in 1983 at age 91.
One of her children is Dr. Charles I. Hancock. As a child, he was always encouraged by his mother.
“Mother was a tremendous influence in my coming up,” Dr. Hancock said. “She was a wonderful lady, and I mean a real lady.”
See Sunday's edition for more details.
