Charles Hodgdon

Uncle Charlie was a "second Father" to my brother and me. It was not until I was a teenager that I learned quite by accident that Uncle Charlie was our Uncle through his close friendship with my Father. He treated my brother and I like his own. He taught us how to care for horses, to work a farm, to drive a car and to be kind to others. He had a tremendous sense of duty, an infinite patience and you could always depend on Uncle Charlie. I that spirit, my brother gave his first born son the middle name of Hodgdon.

My brother and I knew his spirit of kindness and generosity but we do not know his history and it never occurred to us to consider it because he was Uncle Charlie and that was all we needed to know. Uncle Charlie served in World War II in the Pacific theater of operation making several landings in the island hopping campaign. Charlie's only comment to the war was that he only got one shot at getting it right in the Philippines and they gave "Dugout Doug", as he called MacArthur, 9 tries until they got the pictures right. He has a collection of monies and (both paper and coin) from each island nation that he was in, including Japan. Charlie was afflicted with malaria during his tour of duty. He would often fall asleep when he was in a chair conversing. A gentle prod often brought him back to the conversation. Charlie had 2 sisters, Elizabeth (never married), a school teacher who lived in Lynn MA. and passed on in the 1980s and Laura (widowed), also from Lynn who passed on in the early 90s. In the summer he would go to both their houses faithfully every Sunday and care for their lawns and gardens. Charlie's family was one of the first to settle in Lynn which is just north of Boston on the coast of MA. I truly regret, and will for the rest of my life, that I could not be with him as I always have been when bad times hit. He sure liked to eat. My mother would bake us cakes and pies and send them along to have after our morning's work at the race track. My brother, Uncle Charlie and I would all grab a spoon and we would sit around the treat and devour it along with a ½ gallon of ice cream. Sometimes we would put bananas in the immaculately cleaned returned pie tin as a hint to make us banana cream pie. My mom got angry because she could not bake fast enough and threatened to never send any more treats. From then on we would eat the cake or pie in one 5 minute sitting but hold the pie tin a couple of days so that my mother no longer thought that we were igpays. Uncle Charlie always used "Pig Latin" for name calling. It made the whole sorted business of irritation so much more pleasant and easily forgiven. I was in Afghanistan when my wife informed me of his passing. My brother was working with horses in foal. We both took a knee for awhile, it hurts to see our Uncle Charlie pass and we will always have fond memories of our time together.

Your Nephews,

Jim and Chuck

Arrangements under the direction of Kraeer/Mason Funeral Home and Cremation Center, Tamarac, FL.