Charles Edwin Hodges

Charles Edwin Hodges died on January 14, 2018, at the age of 95. The second of nine children of Robert T. Hodges and Elizabeth Wade Hodges, Ed grew up on a peanut, corn and soybean farm in the little town of Montrose, Georgia. He learned the values of hard work and initiative at a young age by selling hot dogs at his hot dog stand on the weekends for five cents apiece. He left behind that world during World War II when he became a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy. He graduated with highest honors in 1945 from the Georgia Institute of Technology, earning a degree in Chemical Engineering.

Ed started his career with Union Carbide Corporation in the Research and Development Department in Charleston, West Virginia. He moved his young family to New Canaan, CT, in 1967, to ultimately become Manager of the Corporate Secretary’s Department at Carbide’s headquarters in New York, in charge of writing the company annual report and maintaining stockholder relations. After retiring from Union Carbide, he worked with several consulting firms in New York City specializing in the placement of key executives. He eventually founded his own career counseling firm, Incrementum, Inc. where he helped many to plan their way forward using the Myers-Briggs test and a well-trained listening ear. Ed was very proud of serving on the board of the Leopold Schepp Foundation that awarded scholarships to worthy students, and was active in numerous other non-profit and professional organizations.

Ed led an active and involved life into his 90's, playing tennis, ice skating, and doing his rigorous exercise routine, known among Carbiders as the "Hodges Hustle”. Because he loved his freedom, when he lost his driver's license around the age of 90, he bought a shiny blue adult tricycle, which he would ride up Route 1 into Falmouth to get a cup of coffee or some groceries.

At the end, Ed gave those who loved and knew him a great gift in the writing of his memoir, Look Away, Look Away... Memories of a Southern Childhood. As all would vouch, while that world he described with such warmth and affection might be long gone, the graciousness and familiarity that characterized those times always remained alive in Ed. No finer example of a southern gentleman could ever be found. He will be greatly missed by his wife, Marjorie, and his three daughters -- Jeanne Grandmont (Wesley) of Seattle, Patti Janums (Michael Batt) of Buxton, ME, and Barbara Groth (Peter) of Portland, ME -- seven grandchildren, and two precious sisters who remain in Georgia, Margie Hodges Weaver and Faye Hodges Fussell (Bob).

The family wants to recognize the warm and genuinely caring support Ed received at Fallbrook Woods -- Susan, Don, Pam, Dawn, Heidi, Barry, Daniella, Missy, Rob, Jackie, and all the other angels there who helped Ed through his final years -- and Hospice of Southern Maine for their guidance and caring in Ed’s final days.

When Ed moved to Falmouth, Maine, to be near two of his daughters in 2000, he became an active member and lay minister of Woodfords Congregational Church.

Family and Friends are invited to attend a memorial service on Saturday January 20, 2017 at 11:00 A.M. in the Woodfords Congregational Church with Rev. Carolyn Lambert officiating. A reception will follow at the church. Interment will be in the spring at Pine Grove Cemetery in Falmouth. On-line condolences can be given to the family at www.jonesrichandbarnes.com.

In lieu of flowers, and in honor of the freedom that a shiny new bicycle gave Ed, donations may be made to Portland Wheelers, https://www.portlandwheelers.org/donate/, who enabled Ed to enjoy a final bike ride in spite of his handicaps.