John Elliott Hodgkins

Hodgkins was born in Farmington, Maine on February 23, 1935, the son of Elliott and Clarice Hodgkins. He spent his boyhood in Temple, Maine and, following his graduation from Farmington High School, earned Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in civil engineering from the University of Maine. He was hired by the Maine Department of Transportation to work summers during college, and was offered a permanent position after graduating.

In July 1965, John married Elizabeth Gamage of Augusta, a union that lasted for nearly 54 years until her untimely death in 2019. He was able to find love again, and shared the last five years of his life with Rachel Green.

Hodgkins headed the construction activities at the Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) for many years, and was credited with bringing many new and contemporary contracting practices to the department. He served as State Traffic Engineer for a time, as well, during which he implemented the Right Turn on Red law and wrote the regulatory procedures for Official Business Directional Signing. Also, as Traffic Engineer, he had his “15 minutes of fame” when he denied Caspar Weinberger’s request to lower the speed limit in front of his house on Mount Desert Island. In a story that made it into the New York Times he was quoted, “It didn’t make any difference who it was. I was more careful in writing the letter, though, I wanted it to be grammatically correct.”

He was subsequently named Director of the Bureau of Project Development. During his years at MDOT, he was accused more than once by his contemporaries of not being an “especially strong leader.” He retired from MDOT in 1999, however, as Deputy Chief Engineer after 47 years of professional public engineering, more than half of it in management.

Hodgkins served as adjunct faculty in civil engineering at the University of Maine where he taught highway design and construction. He also participated for many years as a member of the Maine State Board of Property Tax Review, appointed, or reappointed, by three different governors. He served in the U.S. Navy during the Cold War.

A freelance writer during his retirement, he wrote book reviews for Library Journal, essays and pieces detailing his personal experiences and travels for various magazines and newsletters. He authored two memoirs, A Soldier’s Son: An American Boyhood During World War II, the story of his boyhood in Temple, published in 2006 by Down East Books, and the self-published Our Game was Baseball, the post-World War II story of his growing up playing town ball with the Temple Townies, a team, he says, “that saved a town.” In 2020, his third book, Boiling Off, was published, part memoir and part history of maple sugaring in Maine.

He was principal owner of Jackson Mountain Farms in Temple, Maine, where he and his wife Beth produced maple syrup for more than fifty years. His maple syrup won many ribbons for quality in state and international contests. He consistently preached in his sugarhouse that the final test of the quality of maple syrup was its taste. “If it doesn’t taste good, it’s not good,” he said many times. He also grew Christmas trees for the cut-your-own market at his sometimes farm, “Pavements End,” in Temple where he enjoyed keeping in contact with his boyhood surroundings.

He served on many volunteer committees and boards: President of the Maine Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and for several years on the national Board of Direction of ASCE; the Board of Directors of Bridgecorp Inc.; the Board of Directors of Temple Stream Theater; Chair of the Board of Deacons and several other boards at First Parish Church in Yarmouth, Maine; President of the Maine Maple Producers Association (MMPA) twice, and on the MMPA Board of Directors for many years. He was also a member of Maine Lodge 20 A.F. & A.M. in Farmington.

Mr. Hodgkins served as Chair of the Yarmouth Zoning Board of Appeals, chair of the Yarmouth Historical Society, as a member of the Yarmouth Planning Board, and as a member of the Yarmouth Central Men’s Club. He was a member of the First Parish Congregational Church (FPC) in Yarmouth, served as Scoutmaster of Yarmouth BSA Troop 35 for many years, taught Sunday school at FPC, served as a counselor at Pilgrim Lodge church camp in West Gardiner, Maine, and coached little league baseball in Temple, Maine.

He was the recipient of many awards for civil engineering excellence, including the coveted David H. Stevens award presented by the MDOT, and the Major Achievements in Construction award presented by the Associated Constructors of Maine.

He raced canoes in whitewater; ran marathons; backpacked alone long distances on the Appalachian Trail; climbed Mt. Katahdin three times in winter; climbed the Grand Teton in Wyoming on rock, ice, and snow in his sixties; traveled to nineteen foreign countries; and played golf in twenty-five of the forty-seven states he visited.

John is predeceased by his lovely wife, Elizabeth, and his sister Nancy and her husband Bill Swank. He is survived by his second love, Rachel Green of Yarmouth, a daughter, Bethel Stephens and her husband, Bob, of Brentwood, New Hampshire; two sons, Jack Hodgkins of Superior, Colorado, and Bill Hodgkins and his spouse Joe Wyspianski of Portland, Maine, sister Patricia Hodgkins of Salem, New Hampshire, and seven dear Grandchildren.

Visitation will be 4:00-6:00 pm Friday March 27, 2026, at Lindquist Funeral Home, Yarmouth, Maine.

Funeral services will be held at 10:00 am Saturday, March 28, 2026, at First Parish Congregational Church, 116 Main Street, Yarmouth. Reception to follow at the church.

Contributions may be made in John’s memory to Maine Boys to Men, PO Box 8325 Portland, Maine 04104; and the Temple Historical Society, P.O.Box 375 Temple, ME 04984.