
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, December 2, 1994                   TAG: 9412020065
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: KIMBERLY N. MARTIN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

DEATH CAN'T STOP GIFTS TO LIVING

ONE GENEROUS HEART may have stopped beating, but it won't stop sharing with those left behind - even rescuing a band from a percussion-less concert.

Matthew Lee Hancock has given more in death than many people do while they're alive.

His heart, kidneys, pancreas, liver and corneas were given to Virginia's sick. A scholarship was started in his memory at Virginia Tech.

And now, his drums.

Hancock's father donated Matthew's drum set to Cave Spring Junior High School after he learned that burglars had made off with the school's drum set and other percussion instruments Thanksgiving Day.

"My wife heard it on the news that they had lost some items. ... I had thought about running an ad in the paper to sell [the drums], but this seemed like a better purpose for them," William Hancock said.

Matt's love for drumming began at Cave Spring Junior High, his father said.

Hancock still can remember the sound of the bass drum filling his home from the storage room over the carport whenever Matt practiced - and growing up, Matt practiced often. It didn't stop when he went to college. During every vacation from Virginia Tech, he would find his way back to that storage room and his drums.

But since Matt's death at age 22 on Jan. 25, 1993, from a cerebral aneurysm, the drums had been collecting dust.

So, 20 minutes after Hancock heard about the need, he made the call to Cave Spring, a call Cave Spring's band director, Danielle Wise, was glad to get.

The band's annual concert will be Monday; and although it had replaced some of the stolen instruments, it hadn't been able to drum up a percussion set.

"I was really touched when he called," Wise said. "As soon I got off the phone with him, I called a parent with a van to go get the drums."

Wise wants to mount a plaque on the drums with Matt's name on it. At Monday's concert, the program will note that the drums - which Wise said are in great condition - were given in honor of Matt's memory.

"It's been two years ... but you do hesitate to give up anything," he said. "But he enjoyed them, and I kind of think he might think this was a good use for them."

by CNB