John Julian Hancock
August 4, 1919 – May 19, 2014
The Rev. John Julian Hancock, former vicar of the Church of the Reconciliation, Los Angeles (now closed), died May 19 at Olympia Hospital in Los Angeles. He was 94. In retirement he assisted at St. Bede’s Church, Los Angeles, serving from 1989 to 2006.
Before his tenure at Church of the Reconciliation, which began in 1979, Hancock served at Church of the Nativity in Westchester (1973-75). Previously he served congregations in Colorado City and Sweetwater in the Diocese of Northwest Texas; in Porterville, Taft, Susanville, Quincy and Hanford in the Diocese of San Joaquin (Central California): and in Tillamook and Medford in the Diocese of Oregon. He was ordained to the diaconate in 1946 and to the priesthood in 1947 by Bishop Sumner Walters of the Diocese of San Joaquin.
John Hancock was born in Aberdeen, South Dakota, on August 4, 1919. Following high school graduation in Palo Alto, California, he studied at Menlo Junior College in 1939 and earned a bachelor’s degree in music in 1942 from the University of the Pacific. He received a certificate in 1945 from Church Divinity School of the Pacific; he earned a master of divinity degree there in 1971. At other times he studied at Pepperdine University, Loyola University and UCLA.
Formerly married to the late Dorothy Hancock, he is survived by his daughters Dorien McClellan and Rebecca Wright.
Hancock’s life will be celebrated as part of a Sunday Eucharist in June at St. Bede’s Church.