Joan E. Hodge

Joan E. Hodge, of Sun City, AZ passed away December 5, 2010 at the age of 80. She was born in Chillicothe, OH. Joan will always be remembered as a wonderful, loving mother and grandmother. Joan is survived by her children, Rick Hodge, Stephanie Hodge, Stacy Smith, Leslie Perez, Kim Kindred, Jenni Schmitt and Jacqui Reyes; 11 grandchildren and one great grandchild. Visitation will be held from 5-8PM Wednesday December 8, 2010 and funeral service at 11AM Thursday December 9, 2010 at Sunland Mortuary, 15826 Del Webb Blvd., Sun City, AZ 85351. Interment will follow at the National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona. Contributions can be made to the American Cancer Society. Condolences can be made at www.sunlandmemorial.com

Our family lost our beloved matriarch and mother Joan Hodge on December 5, 2010. Words cannot fill the void she left in our hearts and our souls with her passing to heaven. We are indelibly marked as a family by her strength and strong will, evident during her long battle with cancer complications and her last days in ICU and later Hospice of the Valley. There comes a time when even the strongest heart stops beating due to the ravages of illness. Yet, I know that a small part of Joan’s heart beats in each of her children. She was a selfless giving woman who instilled love, compassion, tenderness, honesty, morality, and family values in each of them. She gave the best part of her Johnson legacy to her offspring. Harry and Sara Johnson raised a remarkable daughter. Joan was born in Chillicothe Ohio on Nov. 6, 1930. They say you get one great love in a lifetime. Joan married her one great love, Bill Hodge on Oct. 11.1950. That love quickly brought Rick, Stephanie Stacy, Leslie, Kim and the twins Jacqui and Jenni into this world. Bill and Joan raised their growing brood with little money and lots of love, until employment with Lockheed marked moving from Ohio to Massachusetts, Oklahoma and finally Arizona. Settled in Phoenix AZ Joan was the ultimate homemaker lavishing her family with love. Love came in the guise of cooking fabulous meals, mouthwatering pastries and sweets, school support, costume making, religious guidance, picking up after seven sometime messy kids and delivering discipline with a gentle hand. Lockheed moved Bill and Joan to Austin Texas where they stayed for 9 years, later retiring to Lake Cherokee TX for another nine years. They returned to AZ where they settled in Sun City in 2002. When the grand kids started arriving, Joan and Bill were thrilled, doling out more love on their first grandchild Jessica Hodge, and then later, Lindsey and Justin Smith, Vince and Megan Perez, Tanner and Payson Kindred, Chelsea Hodge, Brandon and Devon Beck, and Emily and Ryan Schmitt. Even during the blackest most depressing part of Joan’s illness and hospitalization, she couldn’t wait to see Marley Perez-Peterson her new great granddaughter. Joan’s legacy is her family and that family will precede her passing because a tiny piece of Joan’s very loving eighty year old heart beats inside her family members and their spouses. We know that she is with her Lord and Savior and she is walking hand in hand with her beloved husband Bill Hodge in eternity.

Arrangements under the direction of Sunland Memorial Park, Mortuary & Cremation Center, Sun City, AZ.