Ted Ian Hodge

Ted Ian Hodge of Lee’s Summit, Missouri passed away at Centerpoint Medical Center on May 29, 2012. Ted was born to Layton and Elizabeth Hodge on December 12, 1928 in High Point, North Carolina. After graduating from High Point High School he joined the Air Force and entered cadet flight training school. After serving his country, Ted graduated from New York University and became a photographer with the Associated Press traveling throughout the world. Ted’s love of meeting new people led him to become a sales manager for Pan Am Airlines where he traveled abroad from Australia to Africa and everywhere in between. During his time with Pan Am, Ted met and eventually married his one true soul mate, Judith Eiff, a Pan Am flight attendant. Together they shared their love of travel and adventure collecting unique and interesting artifacts from many different countries and cultures. Ted and Judy eventually settled in Lee’s Summit, Missouri where they started a family and owned and operated a livery service. Of all of Ted’s worldly experiences and greatest accomplishments, none meant so much to him as the birth of their son Jeff. Ted’s sole pride and joy was derived from his love for and dedication to his wife and son. And although life dealt Ted an unimaginable amount of pain and sorrow with the untimely death of his only son and then again shortly thereafter with the death of his beloved wife, Ted never lost his Christian faith and resolve to forge ahead and he continued to share his love and dedication to family with his daughter-in-law Stacia and his three grandsons, Ian, Haden, and Gabriel. Grandpa Ted’s love and his time spent taking Ian to golf lessons, cheering on Haden and Gabe at soccer games, or stopping by and dropping off a fresh pie and watermelon he had picked himself will be greatly missed by all of us. Ted was preceded in death by his wife, Judith Hodge, and his son Jeff Hodge. He is survived by his daughter-in-law, Stacia Hodge-Gray and her husband Matt, his grandsons Ian Hodge, Haden Hodge, and Gabriel Hodge, his adopted grandsons, Connor Gray, Kameron Gray, and Zachary Gray as well as many friends and neighbors who all knew and loved him. And though we grieve and miss him so very much, we know our beloved father-in-law, grandpa, and friend is where his heart and soul belongs: with Jesus Christ and his wife and son with whom he so dearly missed. Visitation will be held from 10:00-11:00 a.m. followed by funeral service at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, June 2, 2012, at Mount Moriah & Freeman Funeral Home, 10507 Holmes Road. Burial in Mount Moriah Cemetery South. Condolences may be offered at www.mtmoriah-freeman.com. Arrangements under the direction of Mount Moriah and Freeman Funeral Home in Kansas City, MO.