Because of her cheery nature she had any friends during her school years and many opportunities to use her talents. 

Iris had five paying jobs during her life, only one of which she asked for. Right out of high school, she was asked to be a substitute teacher. That lasted one day and that was enough for her. three of her siblings were studying to be teachers and were honor students, and she felt she could never be as smart as they were, so didn't want to be a teacher. She worked in a grocery/ice cream store, a furniture store, part-time Christmas employment at a department store (the only one she asked for), Mutual Creamery, and Idaho Typewriter Exchange. She actually worked for ITEX twice. In 1939, she transferred with Mutual Creamery to Pocatello, Idaho.

In 1946, she took a break to go on a mission to Eastern Canada in Toronto. ITEX wanted to hold her job for her until she got back, but she said "who knew how either of them would feel by the time she got back?" She was in the mission office when a young Elder, Neal A. Maxwell, came into the mission. She is in the group picture included in his biography, A Disciple's Life. The sister Elder Maxwell mentions, Laura Merrill, who wrote to his parents, was Iris' first companion. On the back of his picture [I held up his missionary picture] he wrote to Iris, I've enjoyed immensely my association with you recently and admire your 'efficiency plus'." (Oct. 1947) [Even at 19 he was very articulate.]

When she was released from her mission in May 1948, there was a letter waiting for her in the mission office, asking her to return to ITEX to work. However, she wanted to take some time off to write her mother's life history, and so ITEX said they would hold the position for her. While at home in Montpelier, she received another letter from ITEX, asking if she was ready to come back to work. That speaks much for her integrity and work ethic. And she did go back to Pocatello to work for them until her retirement in May of 1969.

While still on her mission, she had asked her mother, Mary Jane, to write down some notes to be included in her life history. When Iris arrived in Montpelier to begin writing this life history, she asked her mother for her notes. Mary Jane brought out an envelope which she had opened out and written on the clean inside of the envelope. She believed that pretty much summed up her life. With Iris's prodding, that one envelope turned into many pages of a typewritten history, rich with experiences and service.

Iris met Jay Hancock in MIA activities in Pocatello in 1950-51, and they were married 16 May 1952 in the Idaho Falls Temple. Iris said they really didn't have to "get used" to each other - they just blended. After marriage, they lived in the apartment in which Iris was living.

Jay had been in the service during World War II and never had the opportunity to go on a mission. Iris felt a mission would be a good experience for him and so she went to their bishop and suggested it, and she supported him while he was sent to Western Canada in 1954. In 1956, while Jay was gone, Iris was called to be the ward Young Women President. After Jay returned in March 1957, they had an opportunity to purchase the apartment building in which they lived and managed those apartments until deciding to move down to the warmer climate of Arizona in 1972. 

Together they served i the Genealogical Library (now Family History Center), in the Arizona Mesa Temple from 1975 to 1982, and in 1982 were called to serve a mission in the Texas Houston Mission, serving in Jasper, Texas. They returned in 1983.

Callings:
• Sunday School Chorister at age 15
• MIA Chorister
• Teacher in Sunday School at a young age
• Young Women President in Pocatello
• Gospel Doctrine Teacher
• Relief Society President, Pocatello
• Ward, Stake and Texas missions with Jay
• Visiting Teaching Supervisor
• Visiting Teacher until her death

She took care of herself and Jay until Jay's death in 1999 - then took care of herself until a slight stroke just before her 96th birthday made it impossible for her to live alone. Even then, she figured out how to get herself in and out of a wheelchair and has done so right up until this year. 

She kept up her love of reading and has a collection of books right by her living room chair which she has read and reread often; a little in the first; then it would go to the back, and so forth. Church News and The Ensign were read completely every week and month. She would get concerned if the Church News didn’t arrive on Tuesday when it was supposed to arrive. She couldn’t imagine how “they” print and put a newspaper together, or how the Church operates like it does all over the world. 
 

On 23 July 2006, Iris reached 100 years, so we had to celebrate that event. Many of you were here to help her family honor her. At that time, Beverly Dawson, a niece, brought Iris a precious gift: an old doll we assume belonged to the sister just two years older than Iris. Beverly had salvaged it from the belongings of Aunt Lillas and restored the doll and made beautiful new clothes for her. Her name is “Karin” – good, old Norwegian name. 

Burial was in the Mountain View Memorial Gardens in Mesa.