Obituary of Paul V. Hodges

Paul V. Hodges, 81, of Melbourne, Fla., passed away Feb. 12, 2021, at Palm Bay Hospital with his family by his side. He was born in Providence, RI, in 1939, to the late George and Margaret Grant Hodges. He attended LaSalle Academy (Class of 1957) and Providence College, graduating in 1961, before earning his Master’s degree at the University of Rhode Island. A longtime altar boy at the Church of St. Augustine, he met his true love there when he spotted blue-eyed beauty Mary Jane McGarty. Paul and MJ were married in 1963 and lived in North Providence before moving to Matunuck, RI. He taught elementary and secondary education for nearly 30 years with stops in the Chariho School District, Scituate High School and Ponaganset High School. He was known for going to great lengths to teach his students the importance of sentence structure and the dangers of dangling participles. Legend has it, he would jump on his desk–he was 6-foot-3, mind you—and dangle from the rafters to drive home this point. His students adored him, his humor, his passion for learning and his endless encouragement. In an article in 1982, longtime Providence Journal columnist Mark Patinkin wrote of him, “I went to see him yesterday because I wanted to see excellence, and lately, I have been thinking that the truest of excellence is done in obscurity. Hodges gets no applause for his work, no renown. He does it simply for the sake of being good, and that is as it should be.” He went on to join the graduate school at Johnson & Wales University in Providence as Director of Teacher Education, where he helped aspiring educators learn the craft of teaching.

A true Renaissance man, he loved short stories, long tales and bad jokes. He could sing and dance and was as comfortable wading through Shakespeare as he was sawdust. In the summer, he’d hang up his tie and trade out his chalk for a carpenter’s pencil, tuck it behind his ear, and go about building houses and decks. He spent hours in his basement woodworking shop creating keepsakes for family and friends and avoiding MJ’s honey-do list. He was a charter member of the Matunuck Volunteer Fire Department and served on the South Kingstown Planning Board. Upon retiring from Johnson & Wales, he and MJ moved to Melbourne, Fla., to be close to their two daughters, son-in-law and grandchildren. Getting to golf year-round and never having to shovel snow also factored into the relocation.

A baseball player in his youth, he was a lifelong fan of the Boston Red Sox and cheered for all of New England’s professional teams, as his neighbors no doubt can attest from the yelling. Sending two daughters to the University of Florida made him a Gator fan, but inevitably his favorite teams to watch would be those of his grandson, Brennan, and granddaughter, Riley. From baseball and flag football to soccer and basketball, Pop Pop, as they called him, was a regular fixture on the sidelines and always ready with a post-game hug. He credited Brennan and Riley with inspiring him to finally publish a children’s book, Eddie Ends the Game, which he took great joy in giving to their friends and donating to local classrooms.

The only thing that came close to rivaling his faith and his love for his family and friends was his passion for (and equal parts frustration with) the game of golf. His lifelong love affair with the game began at an early age playing with his father at Metacomet Country Club in Rhode Island. Where others struggle to remember what they ate for breakfast, he could recall in great detail, to MJ’s chagrin, nearly every shot from every course he ever played. To him, a great day was a great day golfing, especially when MJ joined him for a round. This beautiful yet challenging game that inspires poems and profanity was the perfect fit for the lanky English teacher with the wicked wit and dry delivery.

He is preceded in death by his parents, his brother George Hodges and sister Margaret Hodges Wasilewski. He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Mary Jane Hodges of Melbourne, Fla.; daughter Audra Hodges of Boca Raton, Fla.; and daughter Erika Hodges Confreda and son-in-law Alan Confreda, of Melbourne, Fla.; his brother Warren (Nancy) Hodges of North Scituate, R.I.; his grandson Brennan and granddaughter Riley.

A memorial service will be held Tuesday, March 9, at 1 p.m., at St. Joseph Catholic Church, 5330 Babcock St. NE, Palm Bay. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the Matunuck Volunteer Fire Department at 49 School House Road, South Kingstown, RI 02879