John Robert Hoddy

John Robert Hoddy, 79, passed from this life into eternity in heaven with Jesus on Thursday, November 23, 2023 in New Jersey. He was born May 18, 1944 in Columbus, Ohio to the late Glenn Robert and Dorothy Eloise (Livezey) Hoddy. John graduated from Hamilton Township High School in Columbus in 1962, where he was the class valedictorian, played football, basketball, and track & field, and was an active member of many school organizations and clubs, distinguishing himself both athletically and academically.

He was a proud U.S Navy veteran, graduating from the United States Naval Academy in the Class of 1966. Trained as a nuclear engineer, he served as a submarine officer on the USS Gato SSN-615 and USS Kamehameha SSBN-642 during the Cold War.

Upon discharge from active duty in 1972, John embarked on a successful four-decade career in the civilian nuclear power industry in Illinois, Connecticut, New York, and Pennsylvania. John’s Christian faith was an integral part of his life, and he participated in the churches he and his family attended as an unforgettable Sunday School teacher, Bible Study leader, and building and music committee member.

John’s personal interests were wide-ranging, from history to engineering, from literature and poetry to sports and music, from fishing and the outdoors to antique hunting and restoration. He was an avid do-it-yourselfer, nearly singlehandedly remodeling the family’s 1880’s Victorian historical home in Fulton NY from top to bottom, with the witting and sometimes unwitting assistance of his two sons. He embarked on outdoor adventures with his older son John and sold church organs on the side to have a shared musical activity with his younger son Michael. He is fondly remembered by his boys and their friends as being ready and eager to stage epic water balloon battles and build elaborately engineered

ice forts in the winter months. In his retirement years in California, John became a published fiction author, with one book in print, and most of a second completed.

In his last year, although his health challenged him significantly, John was able to rejoin his two sons, their families, and his two grandsons on the East Coast in New Jersey.

John will be remembered by all who knew him as a thoughtful and immediately generous man, full of wisdom, able to converse knowledgeably and at length on nearly any subject, and with a quick wit and indomitable sense of humor in every circumstance and even in difficulty.

In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his first wife, Mary Ann (Peters) Hoddy and his second wife, Billie (Behrend) Hoddy. John is survived by his two sisters Rebecca Case and Christine (Burt) Smith; two sons, John C. (Michele) Hoddy and Michael T. (Grace) Hoddy, and their two children, his grandchildren, Christopher & Jonathan Hoddy; as well as many other relatives and friends.

Visitation will be 1-2 p.m. Tuesday, December 5, 2023 at Schoedinger Grove City, 4242 Hoover Rd., (HOOVER RD AT KINGSTON AVE), Grove City, Ohio where the funeral service will follow at 2:00 p.m. A graveside service with military honors will be held 10:00 a.m. Wednesday, December 6 at Galloway Cemetery.