Donald G Hodges

89, of Valley Center passed away 11/01/2020 at home surrounded by his loved ones.

Don was born 7/26/1931 in Arkansas City, Kansas the oldest of 3 boys. Preceded in death by his wife Elizabeth Ann Hodges. Survived by 4 daughters: Donna (Woody) Bird, Deb Petre, Doreen (David) Kanady, Dawn (Allen) Zon, 7 grandchildren, 9 great grandchildren and 1 great-great grandchild.

Don grew up working on the family farm in Marland, Oklahoma. He had a good sized extended family with plenty of work to go around farming wheat. His family also raised cattle, hogs and chickens for food. They all worked together and when there was a need, took various outside jobs as well which led to Don working at the Chilocco Indian Agricultural School riding horses to herd cattle.

Don joined the Kansas National Guard in 1947 at the age of 16 while attending high school in Arkansas City. He was a Corporal in the motor pool and drove trucks. In January of 1949 tensions between the Koreas was leading to war prompting Don to join the Army. He was 17 ½ years old and admitted to lying about his age to enlist. When asked what made him decide to join- he said “it’s what you did”.

Don was very proud of his time in the military and served 3 separate times:

Kansas National Guard Corporal September 12, 1947 – August 09, 1948 as a Truck Driver.

Army Corporal January 7, 1949 – September 02, 1952 as a Transportation officer and had multiple vehicles assigned to him. He was stationed in Washington D.C. and one of his duties was driving around a General and a few other high ranking officers.

Kansas National Guard Squad Leader January 06, 1954 - June 19, 1958 as a Rifleman.

While in the Guard he was an Expert Marksman on the .30 cal Rifle, .45 Pistol, and MG .30

Don met the love of his life “Bett” on a blind date set up by her cousin. They attended a military dance where Don was stationed. Bettie said Don was the most handsome man on the base. Don was equally smitten, but before proposing he had a couple of important questions that needed answered – do you cook? And do you sew? As fate would have it, Bettie loved to cook and sew and was quite good at both!

Early in their marriage Don and Bettie ran a Boys home in Ponca City, OK. The boys were given responsibilities to help sustain the home centered around raising farm animals and crops for food. A man of many means, other various jobs included working at the mill, for the railroad and for the electric company setting poles. After several years he moved to New Jersey and settled in the construction business. He worked in all aspects of construction from custom homes to commercial and private buildings, senior citizen developments and apartments, shopping centers, schools and warehouses. He specialized in pumping stations and water treatment plants. His roles included foreman, construction superintendent, and eventually an inspector as a certified Engineer.

When Don retired from the construction business, he and Bettie moved to Dover, Delaware reconnecting with old friends and family and enjoyed working as needed with Bettie’s brother in his business. They were always very active with square dancing, bike riding and traveling extensively in their van and camper often taking one of the grandchildren with them for a summer of adventure.

In 2001, they came back home to Kansas and lived out their lives surrounded by family on The Ranch. Don spent his time taking care of the property, stocked pond, and horses. He also tended the gardens, including flower beds for Bettie and vegetable gardens. He was extremely knowledgeable about many things and often was called on to help a son in law with a project.

He was proud to be a Deacon at his church and helped with various fix-it projects at his grandchildren’s school.

Our Dad was what is referred to nowadays as old school. He believed in an honest day’s work and that he was responsible for taking care of his family. When he made a promise, he was committed. Lending someone a hand was never an inconvenience. He loved our mom. There was never an errand, a honey-do or a costume she made him to wear for some social event he complained about. He was happy to go and do, he was honoring mom. He loved his family and with a catch in his throat he would often tell you how fortunate he was to have us. His love for his family was only rivaled by his love of cookies and because we all knew we were the truly fortunate ones to have him, cookies showed up at the ranch on a regular basis. He loved all 4 of his daughters and being onery ranked them by age and would introduce them as 1, 2, 3, 4. If any of us told him we loved him he would always respond the same way…. “I love you, I love all of you’s”.