Michael Patrick Hodge

MICHAEL PATRICK HODGE Michael Hodge died suddenly on May 20, 2021, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He was 80 years old, one month shy of his 81st birthday. Mike was born in Lufkin, Texas, on June 20, 1940 to parents Paul Dudley Hodge and Wilma Laxson Hodge. He graduated from Robert E. Lee High School in Baytown, Texas. He attended the University of Texas at Austin for his undergraduate and law degrees. He served in the US Army during the Vietnam War. Mike’s legal career began in Houston where he worked in private practice and also spent several years working for Legal Aid of Houston. After moving to San Antonio he worked in the District Attorney’s Office presenting grand jury cases and later handling appeals for the office. He was later in private practice for several years in both San Antonio and Castroville, where he was the city attorney for Castroville and then later Justice of the Peace. He returned to the District Attorney’s Office of Bexar County where he represented the county in complex jail litigation. He moved to the Office of the Attorney General of Texas to work in the Enforcement Division, eventually becoming chief of that division which represented the State of Texas in civil rights litigation, habeas corpus appeals and prosecutor assistance for local jurisdictions. During that time he served on the state board which regulated licensing of private investigators and security companies. Mike’s expertise in matters of public policy in areas of criminal justice led to his two-year stint in Washington, D.C., where he authored a manual on prosecution of money laundering and developed model legislation for states enacting laws controlling and prosecuting money laundering. Back in San Antonio, Mike headed the litigation department of the City Attorney’s Office where he supervised civil legislation that the City was involved in and oversaw Municipal Court prosecutors. He retired from the City Attorney’s Office in 2004. Mike had wide interests that kept his life interesting up to the end. He was an avid and talented photographer, originally in black and white prints but eventually mastered digital photography and incorporated color into his repertoire. After moving to New Mexico in 2004 he participated in many exhibits presented by the Camera Club of Las Vegas, as well as showing and selling his work at the annual Pendaries Art League sale. He published a book, Memories of France, with a collection of photographs from many trips to France through the years. Woodworking was a skill Mike began honing while working in a woodworking shop during high school and college. That led to a love of handmade antique furniture, and his good eye helped him and his wife collect many fine old Texas pieces of furniture. He explored beyond Texas furniture when he made several trips to France to buy antiques in partnership with a French friend. They bought many beautiful and unusual rustic pieces from the Pyrenees area of France that were later sold by dealers they worked with in the Houston area. Mike and Carol remodeled three houses, restored two historic houses and one historic commercial building, and built one new house during their 55 years of marriage. Mike’s careful study of techniques and materials resulted in beautiful and authentic results. He involved himself in historic preservation efforts in Castroville by helping to write an ordinance governing historic preservation, and he was a founding member of the Castro Colonies Heritage Association. In San Antonio he was fair chairman for the King William Fair and also president of the King William Association. Travel was a big component of Mike’s life, especially after retirement. He and Carol took an early sabbatical in 1973 that planted the taste for travel. Through the years they were able to travel in the US and Europe with some regularity. After retirement they began trading houses in order to spend time in one place and get the feel of living there. That sent them to many places in the US and England. For the past ten years they have spent six to eight weeks every year in Oaxaca, Mexico, where they immersed themselves in the history, art, architecture, food, handicrafts, and cultural customs of that area. Mike had a lifelong love of music in many forms. He enjoyed attending performances of the symphony and opera in San Antonio and, indeed, throughout the world during his travels, but he also loved jazz performances, folk music festivals and just the happenstance impromptu offerings of music at events and on the street. In addition to preservation efforts Mike had an interest in the welfare of children. After moving to New Mexico he served as chairman of the Citizens Review Board for Neglected and Abused Children for the San Miguel County area and briefly served on the state board. Mike’s death was quite sudden and his generosity of organ donation aligns with his deep concern of the welfare of others and desire to contribute his best to life. Mike is survived by his wife Carol; his sister, Paula Olive, and her husband Ken; two nieces, Sarah Barton and husband Andrew; Leah Olive-Nishioka and husband Ed; and three grandnieces, Emma Barton, Olivia Barton, and Ruth Nishioka. His son, Bryan Paul, died at four years of age in 1970.