Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Death Claims Solon's Mother

Eva Hodges (3rd from left), Senator W. C. Hodges (4th from left)
Excerpts of articles from Hodges' scrapbook regarding the death of Eva Parker Hodges.  "Death Claims Solon's Mother":
Tallahassee, April 17 (AP)--Mrs. Eva Parker Hodges, mother of State Senator W. C. Hodges of Tallahassee, died in a hospital here today.  She had been ill a month.  Mrs. Hodges, known throughout the state as "Mother" Hodges, was 87 years old...
Another, untitled:
Two thousand persons attended the Tuesday funeral of lovable "Mother" Hodges, the respected mother of Senator William C. Hodges.  It was held at Goodwood, the beautiful estate on the eastern edge of Tallahassee and there were at least two freight cars full of flowers from friends. 
And this, with original typos, "Mrs. Eva Hodges Is Buried Here, Large Funeral Given Senator's Mother":
Florida's capital gave one of its largest funerals yesterday to Mrs. Eva N. Hodges, 86-year-old mother of Senator William G. Hodges, who died early Monday.  The attendance was swelled at simple services held at Senator Hodges' home Goodwood, by senators and representatives from the Florida legislature, which is in session.  Legislative machinery was stilled at the 4 o'clock funeral hour.  The Rev. Jack Anderson of Trinity Methodist church, assisted by Dr. Luther Rice Christie of the First Baptist church, conducted the funeral.  Burial was in Oakland cemetery.  The pallbearers were Senators Sidney A. Hinely, J. Slater Smith, R. Stanley Adams, J. Turner Butler, H. G. Murphy, D. Stuart Gillis, J. J. Parrish and Pat Whitaker.  Mrs. Hodges--known to many of the state's lawmakers and others as "Mother" Hodges--had lived here with her son for nearly 50 years.  Added to the other tributes paid to the memory of Mrs. Hodges was a memorial adopted at a regular meeting of the Kiwanis club yesterday.
Excerpt from another article, "Tributes Paid By Legislators To Mrs. Hodges, Mother Of Senator W. C. Hodges Dies At Hospital Here" (note:  the hospital was Johnston's Sanitarium on Gadsden St.)
She came here with her husband, the late J. J. Hodges, nearly 50 years ago.  Of Maryland and New England ancestry, she was born November 24, 1852 in Illinois, the daughter of Jacob Parker and Rose Baker Parker.  Mrs. Hodges, a lifelong member of the Methodist church, kept up her interest in religious and civic affairs even into her last illness.  Among survivors are the son, Senator Hodges; his wife, Margaret; and an adopted brother, Frank D. Grant, of Clinton, Ia.  

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