Ernest Jean Hoge

May 30th was a sad day for our family. We mourn the passing of our Dad, Ernest Jean Hoge. He was an amazing, interesting, and complex man. His family immigrated here in the late 1800s from France. He accomplished an amazing feat by being the first in his family to graduate from college. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences in 1956 at UCLA and became a bacteriologist and later a licensed bio analyst. He was very proud of the fact he received his bio analyst license. He worked at Medical Science Laboratories as their Director of Chemistry in the central valley for many years. In the early years of his career, he worked around many chemicals and in conditions that would make us cringe today! As young children, my brother, David Hoge and I, remember him coming home from the lab, smelling of Ether.

We would often visit him at the lab and have many fond memories. I, Pamela Hoge Glueck, remember running into the lab, quickly passing all the patients in the waiting room so I could get to the room that held the mice. Those mice and I became friends, and I even named them too! Little did I know, these mice were used for pregnancy test and never made it beyond a few days. LOL! I, David Hoge, spent time with him at the lab when I was a kid on weekends where he paid me 25 cents an hour to clean and process glassware (beakers). Big money for a kid back then. LOL! I was also responsible for cleaning animal cages and feeding them. I am sure that is where I developed my interest in working in the medical field. Dad was a classic ‘lab man’, he had the flat-top haircut, the plastic pocket protector in his breast pocket, the clip-on tie, and the personality to match.

If you can imagine Robert De Niro character in Meet the Parents that is a close comparison to our Dad. He was a rebel. While lifeguarding in college he fell in love with Beverly Gay Andrews, and after a short courtship, they drove to Arizona to elope, only to return to Bakersfield that night to their separate homes with a secret that they kept from their parents. Well, that secret only lasted one week before their parents found out and a Church wedding was promptly planned.

He was most proud of his family, his son David Hoge & wife Fran, his daughter, Pamela Hoge Glueck & husband John Glueck, his grandsons, John-Ross Glueck and his wife Maggie, Collin Glueck and his girlfriend Katrina, Charles Hoge, Duncan Hoge, Jack Hoge and his girlfriend Alex, and especially his great-granddaughter Lily Glueck.

He loved to talk about his black belt that he earned in Aikido and his brown belt in Judo. He had the inclination to be able to fix anything, especially if it was highly technical; he loved the challenge. He was a HAM radio operator, KD6TRV. He was the sail to our family ship, and we will miss his steadfast guidance and his quiet love. Rest well Dad, we love you.