GREENFIELD — Mitch Blocher, a longtime Indiana State Police trooper and Eastern Hancock athletic booster, died on Saturday, Jan. 2, after a nine-month battle with brain cancer.
The Hancock County community rallied around Blocher and his family after he was diagnosed in April.
Hundreds of supporters drove past his rural Greenfield home last month to buy pork burgers at a fundraiser held in his front yard. Many stopped to record video messages as Blocher and his family watched from the front porch.
“We are all very sad about Mitch,” his longtime friend, Aaron Spaulding, Eastern Hancock’s athletic director, said on Monday. “However, we’re glad that he is no longer suffering.”
Spaulding said Blocher’s family — his wife Angeline and their teenage sons, Sam and Joe — were in the process of planning his funeral and visitation service this week.
The loss of Blocher leaves an indelible hole in the Eastern Hancock community, Spaulding said.
“Eastern Hancock has lost an enormous supporter, dad, volunteer and friend. Mitch Blocher has coached for us, served on numerous boards and has been one of our biggest advocates. He will be missed tremendously,” he said.
“Eastern Hancock will not be the same without him, but we are a better place because of him.”
