Renn Stancil Hinton
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Renn Stancil Hinton in 2012
Renn Stancil was born Dec. 5, 1944, in Ocala, Fla., and died Dec. 26, 2024, in Palatka, Fla. Renn married Bobby Brown Hinton at the 1971 family reunion.
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| Renn's children with Bobby Hinton |
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| Darcee Anne Sams |
| Kip Austin Hinton |
| Ty Alexander Hinton |
| Brent Ashley Hinton |
| Coree Anne Hinton |
Photo courtesy of Stancil Family Archive |
Daisy Renn Stancil, daughter of George Ralph and Ethel Octavia Stancil, was born December 5, 1944, in Ocala, Florida. Among other things, she was an educator, mediator and mother. She suffered the effects of ALS for more than 20 years before passing away. She is the reason the Stancil Reunion website is up and running with so much content. We are all so proud of what she was able to do with the family reunions over the years after taking over responsibility from her father.
As a child, Renn worked as a cowgirl and farmhand at Stancil’s Pineywoods Farm in Ocala. She was skilled in horseback riding, roping, and tobacco cultivation. She grew up on the family farm at the corner of U.S. Highway 27 and Northwest 60th Avenue, later named “Stancil Corner.”
When she was 6 years old, after visiting relatives in North Carolina, her family’s Studebaker was hit by a drunk driver in South Carolina. That accident crushed her mother Ethel’s legs, and blinded Renn in one eye.
Numerous cousins will hold on to the memories of her generous work with the annual Stancil family reunions in North Carolina. She had a lifelong dedication to the Stancil family, reaching out to members all across the country. Because of the pandemic and health concerns, the last reunion she was able to attend was in 2019.
She attended Greenville Elementary School in Ocala. She graduated from Ocala High School (Class of 1963), the same school her mother graduated from in 1934, and went on to earn a Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education from University of Florida in Gainesville. In her college years at UF, she was a member of Sigma Kappa Sorority.She held a Florida teacher’s certificate for elementary, early childhood, and junior college levels, and an Arizona teacher’s certificate for elementary.
Photo courtesy of Stancil Family Archive |
She taught elementary school in Glendale, Arizona, in 1967-68. In 1968, she completed a Spanish language summer program in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico. She then earned her Master’s of Education in Early Childhood Education from UF. She was the kindergarten teacher at Mosley Elementary in Palatka, Florida.
While she was a full-time kindergarten teacher in Palatka, Renn met Bobby Brown Hinton at a parent-teacher event. Bobby worked at the local paper mill and was a single father with custody of his son Jay, a third-grader.
Renn married Bobby at the Stancil Family Reunion in August 1971 in Kenly, North Carolina.
After that, Renn and Bobby had five children. Renn was an active participant in school-related organizations including PTA, PTO, band boosters, athletics boosters, after-school programs, field trips, and more. Renn spent over a quarter century parenting and homemaking full-time. She constructed elaborate decorations for Christmas and Easter. For Halloween, she made decorations as well as hand-sewn costumes for every family member, such as 1983 when they all went as characters from Robin Hood. She loved art, and enrolled in weekly painting classes for several years, excelling at still life, and loved creating stained glass. She took thousands of photos with her 35mm camera and collected books on many topics. She practiced yoga several days a week for a decade. Renn planted large gardens of day lilies and other flowers, and designed an aviary where she raised doves at her home outside of Louisville. She woke up early and at full speed, except on Saturday when she slept in because Bobby was in charge of the kids and cooked elaborate breakfasts for everyone. Renn baked and distributed food to shut-ins and other neighbors in need, and volunteered and donated to support causes that she believed in, including public radio, public television, symphony orchestras, local theater, children’s music, and children’s sports.
Photo courtesy of Stancil Family Archive |
Renn kept her children connected with Stancil relatives through road trips each year, to Florida and North Carolina – especially Kenly, site of the annual Stancil Family Reunion.
She often took photos and assisted her father Ralph at the reunion. As her father got older, Renn became the primary organizer of this reunion. She worked to gather and share updates about different branches of the family for the reunion newsletter, arrange reunion events, and worked closely with her brother Hale to keep the family tree updated. She always encouraged all to attend and made family members and guests feel welcome.
Throughout her life, Renn was active in Disciples of Christ Congregations. First Christian Church of Ocala, and from 1978 to 2001 she attended and joined other churches, all of them part of the Disciples of Christ denomination. She left an enduring impact at all, but Erlanger Christian Church in Erlanger, Kentucky, was where she created the children’s church program and vacation Bible school program that still exist today. She was also part of Beargrass Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky; First Christian Church in Wheeling, West Virginia; Parkway Christian Church in Davie, Florida; and First Christian Church in Pensacola, Florida, before returning to First Christian Church of Ocala.
For many years she taught Sunday School classes, children’s church, and adult study groups in Erlanger. She organized vacation Bible school during summers, among other events for church members and local communities in Kentucky or Florida.
Meanwhile, Bobby’s career in paper and package manufacturing necessitated following job opportunities to many places. Between 1978 and 1998, Renn and Bobby moved from Palatka to Burlington/Florence, Kentucky, then Prospect, Kentucky, then St. Clairsville, Ohio, then Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and then Pensacola, Florida.
While she never returned to a full-time classroom position, she sometimes worked regular jobs for a few months a year – for example, she worked for the 1990 Census in Kentucky and the 2000 Census in Florida. After Bobby retired in 2001, Renn and Bobby returned to Palatka, the town where they had met and moved into their 130-year-old house near the St. Johns River.
As a child in 4-H, Renn participated in baking and animal-related events. Then as an adult, Renn became a 4-H organizer and volunteer in Boone County and Oldham County, Kentucky. She founded a club for the neighborhood children in Burlington. She encouraged her own children and many others to participate in 4-H education, events, and competitions at the county, state, and national levels. From 1984-1992, Renn shared her love and knowledge of diverse fields that included baking, cooking, carpentry, gardening, sewing, and livestock. When Darcee was in elementary school, in 1983, Renn became the adult leader for the local Girl Scout troop. She spent countless hours supporting girls to develop the leadership and values of the Girl Scouts of America.
After experiencing mobility symptoms for several years, Renn was diagnosed with ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) at Mayo Clinic Jacksonville in May 2004. This rare neurodegenerative disease has no known cure, and average survival from onset is three years. Renn fought every step of the way. She explicitly recalled her own mother’s battle to walk again after that car accident long ago.
She read and wrote extensively, pursuing her interests in Stancil family history and genealogy. She spoke to friends old and new, and reached out to distant relatives and associates for research, or building bridges, or just to talk. She continued her lifelong pattern of showing empathy and offering help to any who need it.
At that time, Renn was a Florida certified mediator. From 2001 to 2018, she mediated with plaintiffs and defendants to reach pre-trial resolutions for lawsuits filed in Escambia County and Putnam County courts.
Yet ALS always progresses. From 2004 to 2024, Renn slowly lost motor neurons in her limbs. Bobby was unexpectedly diagnosed with leukemia and died in November 2014. Renn’s children Coree and Ty stayed with her in Palatka and took care of her as she navigated ALS. In her final years, Renn lost most of her ability to write and type. She could still speak until the very end.
Renn passed away at 80 on December 26, 2024, in Palatka, Florida, with her family by her side.
She was in good health two weeks before she died. She spent eight days at the Mayo Clinic hospital in Jacksonville. She turned 80 just 21 days before she died.
Renn is survived by her brother: Harold Stancil (Kim Brown); children: Darcee Anne Sams (Jimmy), Kip Austin Hinton (Amalia Ortiz), Ty Alexander Hinton, Brent Ashley Hinton, and Coree Anne Hinton; sister-in-laws: Alice Marie Hinton, and Rebecca Faye Stancil; nephews & nieces: Ted Schore (Jean), Alex Schore (Don Sandola Jr.) Schore; Stephanie DellaVecchia (Matt), Karen Stancil (Ken Capps), Suzanne Stancil (John Svercek), Kathryn Riechert (Scott Whitten), and John Stancil (Jennifer); and many cherished grandnieces and grandnephews.
She was preceded in death by her husband Bobby, stepson Jay Benjamin Hinton, parents Ralph and Ethel Stancil, sister Georgeanne Stancil Schore, and brother Hale Ralph Stancil.