KENNETH JOSEPH HANCOCK

HANCOCK, KENNETH JOSEPH Kenneth Joseph Hancock, 72, of Dunnville, was born in Willowdale to Harry and Carrie. He will be missed by daughters, Rachael and Rebecca, by sisters, Carrie, Amy, Liza and Martha, by longtime friend, Deborah Ellis, and by countless others he worked with and influenced over the years. A gifted hockey player in his youth, Ken was drafted at a young age by the Boston Bruins and the Chicago Blackhawks at a time when the NHL had only the 6 original teams. He turned his back on hockey because he hated the violence in it. He got his Masters of Theology at University of Toronto's Emmanuel College, became involved in helping Chilean refugees escaping the Pinochet regime and Americans not wanting to go to Vietnam, as well as organizing against nuclear power. A straight man, he provided solidarity and security at gay pride events when those events were just starting out. Led by a tradition of radical non-violence, Ken organized with the Cruise Missile Conversion Project and the Alliance for Non-Violent Action. When the G7 came to Toronto, Ken put together a War Crimes Tribunal to try them all for war crimes, followed by a non-violent citizen's arrest of Reagan, Mulroney and the other G7 leaders. He and his close friend, Marc Brzustowski, put together the Walk Against Male Violence, which saw thousands of students raising money for women's shelters and for girls' schools in Afghanistan. Ken was a frequent guest in many jails for acts of civil disobedience to bring a little justice to the planet. Old hockey and other injuries put him in a wheelchair at an assisted living facility for the last years of his life. From there, he organized Dunnville's first-ever gay pride event. Ken was shy and no good at small talk, but if anyone showed a flicker of interest, he could talk for ages about politics and liberation. He was a passionate public speaker with an encyclopedia in his brain that could make connections between facts and illuminate how the world works. He loved movies and jazz and good books. Ken struggled with alcoholism for decades. It was not always easy to be around him, and it was certainly not easy to be him. For all that, he still kept trying to make the world better. Ken is free now, up in heaven, hanging with Jimmy Cagney and raising hell among the angels. Good bye, Ken. See you in the next life.