Dr. Millie Pitts Hancock Schumpert

Dr. Millie Pitts Hancock Schumpert, 86, passed away in Asheville, NC, on Sunday, December 24, 2023.

Millie devoted her life to the care of her family and her patients. She was kind, brilliant, practical, independent, and a life-long learner. She was a great friend and an inspiration to many. Her extended family knew her as their unofficial pediatrician, as well as maker of hundreds of batches of peanut brittle, the editor of the Pitts family cookbook, and the recorder of family ancestry. Her legacy of child advocacy and her pioneering influence as a woman physician lives on in the people she touched. Millie was an avid reader, a fiercely competitive Master Bridge player, a devoted student of the Bible, and a breast cancer survivor. She loved her medical trips to China in 1983, and to Ukraine and Eleuthera after retirement. Dedicated to keeping her medical knowledge fresh, she enjoyed her Continuing Medical Education and kept her medical license current until she turned 81. After retirement, her daily focus centered around her grandchildren and children, and she frequently sent magazine clippings to whomever she thought would appreciate them. If you visited her, you would usually leave with one of her books in hand to read and then pass on to the next person.

A native of Newton, NC, Millie was born March 1, 1937, the sixth out of seven daughters of her late parents, Ray E. Pitts, and Viola B. Pitts. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude with a degree in Chemistry from Women’s College of the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, NC, which she fondly called “WC.” In 1962, she graduated with a Medical Degree from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where she was one of three women in her class. The previous year 1961, she married Dr. Richard P. Hancock, a surgery resident originally from Tucson, AZ. Millie continued her work in Baltimore, finishing her Pediatric Internship and Residency at Johns Hopkins. Returning home to NC, she completed fellowships in Hematology and Oncology at Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem, followed a few years later by a fellowship in Allergy and Clinical Immunology at Bowman Gray School of Medicine. She was the first female physician in Hickory, NC, where she first practiced pediatrics at the Children’s Clinic. She also served as medical consultant to the Catawba County Health Department and the Western Carolina Center in Morganton. In 1976, she opened her private Pediatric Allergy & Immunology practice. That same year, she was co-founder of the Task Force for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, which continues today as the Children’s Advocacy & Protection Center of Catawba County. In 1980, she was the first co-recipient of the Hancock-Settlemyre Award for the prevention of child abuse. Through the years Millie continued to lecture about children’s advocacy to schools and community organizations. In addition to her passion for bridge, she was active in the Hickory community theater, played mixed doubles tennis, and was a dedicated mother to her three children Margaret, Carol, and David, and to various family pets.

Millie’s path led her in 1987 to marry Derrill E. Schumpert, of Union, SC, where she opened an allergy practice from 1988 until her retirement in 2000. In 2003, to be closer to her young grandchildren, she moved to Gibsonville, NC, where she was active in her church and the local bridge community. In 2017, she moved to Deerfield Episcopal Retirement Community in Asheville, NC, where she immersed herself in the clubs and activities of the community. She continued to play duplicate bridge weekly, attended Bible study regularly, participated in the resident’s council, and organized collections of handmade hats and blankets for newborns for a local rural hospital.

Millie is survived by her daughters, Margaret Hancock Sullivan, MD, and husband Patrick, and Carol Hancock Craig and husband Carlton, and grandchildren Aidan Sullivan, and Chloe, Claudia, and Birch Craig, all of Asheville, NC; her daughter-in-law, Julie Hancock Turner, and grandchildren, Millie and Will Hancock, all of Burlington, NC; her nieces and nephews, Gary & Marie Corne, Ellen & Gene Wetmore, Carol & Freddie Sharpe, Blair Nuzum, Harold & Edith Hoke, Ray & Jane Hoke, Tony & Janie Skatell, Beth & Luis Fondo, Sarah & Julian Winters; her dear “sister-cousin” Trudy Keener, her step-children, Mary & David Nichols, Ann & Chuck Foster, Derrill Schumpert Jr.; step-grandchildren, Betsy, Martha, Frances, Sarah, James, Trey & Trent; six step-great-grandchildren and many grand-nieces and nephews, all whom she loved dearly.

Preceding her in death were her husband, Derrill E. Schumpert; her son, David Lee Hancock; step-grandchild, Kelsey Schumpert; her sisters and their spouses, Madeline & Stanley Corne, Evelyn Pitts, Elenore & Edward Nuzum, Alice & Harold Hoke, Joan Pitts, and Linda & Al Maxwell; and her first husband, Dr. Richard P. Hancock.

A celebration of her amazing life will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, January 20th, at St. Giles Chapel, Deerfield Episcopal Retirement Community campus, Asheville, NC. Her final resting place will be Catawba Memorial Park in Hickory, NC. A private graveside service for close family will be held at a later date.

Memorials may be made in Millie’s honor to: Children’s Advocacy and Protection Center of Catawba County, 4360 County Home Rd, Conover NC 28613; or MANNA FoodBank, 627 Swannanoa River Rd, Asheville NC 28805; or to Crossroads Child Advocacy Center, P.O. Box 673, Burlington NC 27216.