Gale L. Hodgins

It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing of our mother and grandmother, Gale K. Hodgins, 85, on February 8, 2026, leaving a void our family cannot fill. She lived most of her adult life in Sanford, FL and spent the last eight years in Mt. Dora, FL. Born on August 31, 1940 in Dawson, GA and raised in the Albany, GA area, as a child she had a deep love of sports and played basketball and was a cheerleader in high school.

After graduating high school in 1958, she attended Abraham Baldwin College and the University of Georgia Extension Center in Albany. During this time, she met our dad, who was an Air Force pilot stationed at Turner Air Force Base in Albany. They married on March 27, 1965 in Albany. Not long after they married, our dad was deployed to Vietnam as a tactical airlift pilot flying the C-7 Caribou. Our mom supported him from home as he flew dangerous combat missions. One happy highlight they always discussed from this time was the two weeks they spent together in Hawaii, during my dad’s R and R. They both remembered this time very fondly.

Mom and Dad had three sons, Paul Jr., Wynn and Christopher (Kit). She was a devoted mother and her whole life was her three boys. She never attained a college degree but she instilled in us the importance of education and all three sons received a Bachelors degree from the University of Central Florida with two earning a Masters degree. She taught us tenacity, empathy, strength and perseverance. Her love and leadership have served us well in life and we are very blessed she was our mom.

Mom was a very talented and stylish woman. She was known for her love of fashion, interior and exterior design, and cooking and baking. She would make clothes with her sewing machine for herself and us. She loved to dress up and she taught her boys the importance of style and dressing nice always. An example of home improvement was when she didn’t like the back concrete patio and was able to learn how to put in a new brick patio to overlay the old concrete. And this was pre-YouTube. She was amazing! She absolutely was the best cook you ever met! She really had an amazing gift to cook anything and everything! Her Thanksgiving and Christmas meals were perfect! We were very fortunate to have her home cooked meals growing up!

She was preceded in death by her husband Paul Sr. and her oldest son Paul Jr., at the age of 27. His loss was absolutely devastating to mom and she never fully recovered. She is survived by her loving sons Wynn (Katie) and Christopher (Andrea) and grandchildren, Mackenzie, Regan, Lukas, Alexis, William and Benjamin, who will forever miss her love. Our hope is she is reunited with our brother and dad in eternal love.

A public visitation will be held at Baldwin-Fairchild Oaklawn Chapel, located at 5000 County Road 46A, Sanford, FL 32771, on February 13, 2026, from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm. The funeral service will follow at the same location from 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm.

A graveside committal will take place at Oaklawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Co Rd 46A, Lake Mary, FL 32746, from 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm on the same day.