\tThe 71-year-old\u2019s great love of nature, his steadfast dedication and his deep spirituality stem from life experiences as well as the guidance of family and friends. For the first eight years of his life in Macon, Ga., where he was born in 1940, Hodges was raised by his great-grandmother and surrounded by extended family. Living together in a cluster of houses at the end of a bus line, they were together constantly, working, singing and cooking. Faith was a big thing \u2014 not necessarily the Catholic faith, but devout Christianity.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cFor all we didn\u2019t have, we had so much,\u201d Hodges said. \u201cWe always looked at it like we were rich.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tHodges\u2019 great-grandmother, who was a Methodist, sacrificed to send her great-grandson to Catholic school because it offered him the best education. At school, he received his sacraments and had a love of Catholicism ingrained in him.<\/p>\n
\tWhen he was 8 years old, Hodges and his sister moved to Philadelphia to join his mother, who had made a home there. Immediately, he knew that life wasn\u2019t for him.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThe nearest green grass was about 13 blocks away,\u201d he said. \u201cEverybody (was) on top of everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tHodges continued to attend Catholic school \u2014 now at St. Elizabeth, staffed by Missionhurst priests \u2014 and to this day has a rosary given to him by one of the clergy hanging over his dresser. Also an altar server, he continued to be formed in the Faith.<\/p>\n
\tAs soon as Hodges was old enough to get a job, he did \u2014 with perhaps even a slight fudging on his part about his age. He worked part-time at a hardware store where he was mentored by one of his life\u2019s great influences, a German immigrant named Mork who became a father-figure in his life.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cHe took me under his wing (and) he taught me a lot of things,\u201d Hodges said, including the value of a dollar, and the benefit of hard work and dedication. \u201cAt Christmastime, he used to take me to his house. He would put up a train and it was like I was family.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tHodges\u2019 life changed profoundly when, a couple of years after moving to Philadelphia, he had an accident in which \u201cmy whole life flashed in front of my face.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tWhile out with a friend doing odd jobs, something spooked the horse that was pulling the wagon they were riding on. When the reins slipped from his hand, Hodges determined the only way to re-gain control of the racing steeds was by walking toward them to gather the reins.<\/p>\n
\tBut, \u201cwhen I walked, I slipped,\u201d he said. \u201cHolding on, with feet dragging, all I (could) see is this wagon wheel coming for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tImages flashed through his mind of people he knew and \u201cpictures after pictures of things I had done.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tExhausted, Hodges nearly let go \u2014 but, just at the last second, he got the sense he should try to hold out a little longer.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI didn\u2019t pray, I can\u2019t tell you that,\u201d he said. But \u201csomething told me just to hold on.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tAlmost immediately, a man ran into the road and slowed the horse.<\/p>\n
\tFrom that moment on, Hodges knew that he was put on the earth for a purpose.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cGod didn\u2019t take me then so He has a plan for me,\u201d he remembered thinking. \u201cHe\u2019s going to lead me in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tFrom then on, he lived his life with a steady, almost fearless determination. In 1957, at the age of 17, Hodges joined the Air Force, where he traveled to Texas, California, Guam, the Philippines and beyond. He always worked, whether cleaning barracks or selling oddball items, then sent the money he earned home to his mother.<\/p>\n
\tWhen he left the Air Force, he joined the D.C. fire department, where he fought fires, rescued families and learned the importance of working together as \u201cone\u201d with his unit.<\/p>\n
\tComing of age during the Civil Rights era, Hodges said discrimination never much touched his life.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI never was taught that I was different,\u201d he said. \u201cI was always taught that God made you, you were a human being, one of God\u2019s children, and (to) make Him proud.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tAs a fireman, Hodges said he learned to be compassionate. He saved people, he saw people die. He was inside a church when the attic floorboards fell out from underneath him, leaving him and a fellow firefighter straddling a beam in the rafters.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cDon\u2019t let anybody tell you that firemen don\u2019t pray,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a sense of companionship and there\u2019s a sense of God.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tHodges\u2019 best memories are from his 10 years working on Engine No. 9, and as a fire fighter, then sergeant and eventually retiring at the rank of lieutenant.<\/p>\n
\tHodges met his wife, Margie, who lived near the fire station, and the two were married July 6, 1963, at St. Augustine Church in Washington. Together, the couple raised five children who attended Catholic school. Then, in 1979, the family moved to a house they built just south of Madison in Greene County. Though Hodges had, for five years, a long commute to the fire station, he was able to much more fully enjoy the outdoors, which he calls \u201cmagnificent even in its worst time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI\u2019ve seen rain come sideways and thought it was pretty,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\tOn their 10 acres of land the family raised animals from pigs to chickens to sheep (they still have 46 goats), and planted numerous trees.<\/p>\n
\tEven after retiring from the fire department in the early 1980s, Hodges, naturally, remained active. He took a job as a park ranger in Shenandoah National Park, where he occasionally ministered to people struck by lightning. He \u201cran\u201d with the Greene County Rescue Squad.<\/p>\n
\tIn 1989, he went to work for the University of Virginia as transportation supervisor for the university\u2019s medical center, where he worked nights. This was followed by a stint as a fire safety officer, also at the medical center, where he trained employees and taught them what to do in case of a fire. He eventually was approached about being the safety director for the medical center, a job from which he retired (again) in 1995.<\/p>\n
\tTaking a break from the workforce, Hodges joined the parish council at Our Lady of the Blue Ridge and, just because they needed someone to do it, volunteered to mow the grass on the parish grounds.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI do almost anything anybody asks me to do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\tIn addition to being an extraordinary minister of Communion, Hodges and his wife attended eucharistic adoration. Hodges meets once a month with a senior group that eats out together, distributes Communion at a nursing home and packs boxes for U.S. troops overseas.<\/p>\n
\tPart of an old-school generation, Hodges gets to church early for Mass and values the time he can spend praying on his knees. He also values the \u201ccloseness\u201d of the people at Our Lady of the Blue Ridge, citing active participation as the key to a unified parish family.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThe biggest key is to get everybody involved, that\u2019s how you stay together,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\tA mantra in Hodges life is to \u201ctruly believe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI truly believe in Jesus Christ,\u201d he said. \u201cI truly believe that there\u2019s life after death.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tBeing able to work hard, to serve others and to love God has given him a fullness in life.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cMy prayers have been answered,\u201d he said. \u201cI never expected a lot out of life because when I was born I never had a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tWorking for the good of others, he said, has always been his forte.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThat sense of help \u2014 that\u2019s what you\u2019re here for,\u201d he said. \u201cWe all have a purpose. I feel blessed with the life that I\u2019ve led.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tPosted with permission from The Catholic Herald<\/a>, official newspaper for the Diocese of Arlington, Va.<\/p>\n