Halley’s Comet 1910
The year was 1910 and the world population had their eyes focused on Halley’s Comet, as did a seven year old boy living with his mother in Kiowa, Colorado. That little boy was my grandfather Bernard Hancock.
I would often stop by my grandparents home to visit, particularly in 1970 when I was pregnant and had quit working. It drove me nuts to stay home during that 8th month, yet it was so uncomfortable to go anywhere in the summer heat. I knew Grandma and Grandpa Hancock would be sitting on their shaded front porch and I knew I would always be welcome.
Usually Grandma would do the talking, but sometimes Grandpa had some pretty interesting things to say. One day in 1968 we talked about politics, he was going to vote for George Wallace. I was shocked, but didn’t dare say anything. Then he admitted when he was young he had been a member of the Klu Klux Klan for a short time. The city of Denver had a fairly active chapter at the time. I really kept my mouth shut on that one, but my eyes must have been as big as silver dollars.
On this particular day that I was visiting he casually mentioned that when he was a child he had seen Halley’s Comet. At the time he and his mother lived in Kiowa, Colorado. Kiowa, being a small town out in the middle of of the prairie provided a big, wide expanse of the sky for viewing and he saw the comet.
Lulu Pearl Brace Hancock with baby Bernard Hancock
Funny, how you never know how smart your parents or grandparents really are. My grandfather not only new about Halley’s Comet, he had seen it.
50th Anniversary Frances and Bernard Hancock 1973
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