After writing about 100 books, Donald C. Hancock recently published his last title.
At 93, Hancock blamed his fingers which aren’t as nimble and pain-free as they once were. He’s also dealing with the loss of his wife of 69 years. Finetta Hancock died on Jan. 14, 2026. Their 70th anniversary would’ve been Aug. 19. His last title, published May 29, was written about her.
“She was the editor of all my books. She read them for grammar and typos,” he said of his wife who was a retired schoolteacher.
Hancock started writing books in 1979, but he’s always crafted with words.
He met his wife while studying at seminary in Kentucky. He attended a midweek training union meeting one night and saw an open chair next to Finetta. He asked if he could sit next to her, and she said yes.
“She later told me that she wrote in her diary that I met him tonight. From that night on, we were a couple,” he said.
He wrote more about their story in the book “Our Days.”
While in seminary he studied to be a chaplain, but when he graduated from seminary there were no chaplain vacancies. He spent 12 years as a pastor before moving to the Augusta area to work at Gracewood State School and Hospital.
“I went in as an educational director and left as head chaplain,” said Hancock who spent 31 years at the institution.
Among his writings are six collections of devotions as well as compilations of short stories.
Inspired by his own lifelong love story, he’s also written many love stories.
He’s written about “70 novellas which were basically Christian romances and in the process of falling in love, they told about God,” he said.
He still talks to Finetta daily and can still clearly hear her voice. He can see her vividly in his mind’s eye.
While she was alive, she had problems with one of her eyes. She could only see light and dark, but in Heaven, he believes she can see fully; and he knows she’s happy there.
The early books were handwritten in notebooks. With the advent of the Internet, he got involved with online writing groups, and when Amazon entered the print-on-demand publishing scene, Hancock printed his books via CreateSpace at first then on Amazon.
His most recent book was published May 29 and is called “A First Hand Account of Life in Heaven.”
With his last book written, his hope is that others would read them. To learn more, go here.
Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for more than 35 years. She’s won multiple Georgia Press Association awards, is the recipient of the 2018 Greater Augusta Arts Council’s media award and was named best local writer by readers of Augusta Magazine in 2024 and 2025. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here
