The memorial service for Charles ‘Chuck’ Clifford Hodges, 86, of Aberdeen, SD, will be 2:00pm, Saturday, February 15, 2025, at Arise Church, with Pastor Joe Hauer officiating. Chuck died peacefully on February 3, 2025, at Avera St. Luke’s Hospital, Aberdeen. In lieu of flowers, Chuck requested donations be made to the Arise Church of the Nazarene. Cards and condolences can be sent to Angela Barth, 624 N. Washington St. #1, Aberdeen, SD, 57401.

Arrangements by Spitzer-Miller Funeral Home, 1111 South Main Street.

I am Chuck Hodges and have prepared this obituary for my family and close friends, so they won’t be burdened with trying to remember these details. Please be assured that I am very content in heaven with my Savior, Jesus Christ, free from all pain, and I am totally relaxed and joyful! I can see clearly and hear perfectly with my body anew. My mind and emotions are filled with pure peace and gratitude for the love pouring into me from Brother Jesus and Father God. I am so blessed! Oh, the beauty of it all: I am standing, no, I am kneeling before the throne of God. And God has a rainbow wrapped around his shoulders, and from the throne comes flashes of lightning and peals of thunder. And a choir of angels never stops singing, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.” And an antiphonal choir singing, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they were created and have their being.” (see Revelation 4). I eagerly wait to see all of you. Please prepare to see Jesus and me!! Don’t delay your preparation!! When you get here, you will be amazed, as I am.

In 1962, I married my best friend, Dorothy ‘Dottie’ Black, and many friends have commented that we had the best marriage relationship they have known. I agree! Among my favorite romantic times was frequently singing to Dottie, whether in the privacy of our bedroom, or in the nursing home’s fireplace room, two songs which were sung at our wedding: “Because” and “Always.”

We have one wonderful child, Angela ‘Angie,’ who is married to Ken Barth, and seven marvelous grandchildren: Richie (Christina) Jensen, of Redfield, SD, Josh (Lesli) Jensen, of Faulkton, SD, Cassie Lara-Jensen (Jonathan Lara-Gomez), of Mitchell, SD, Misty (David) Wilson, of Dillon, MT, Rebecca (Nehemiah) OConnor, of Great Falls, MT, Destiny Jensen of Aberdeen, and McKylie Barth, of Aberdeen. Also, we have eight great-grandchildren: Jade, Seth, and Naomi, children of Richie and Christina; Logan and Chloe, children of Misty and David; and Shawn, Ryker, and Nova, children of Rebecca and Nehemiah.

My parents were Clifford and Olive (Edwards) Hodges, and I was born in 1938, in Sioux City, IA, the third of four siblings: older brother and sister, Edward Hodges (deceased) and Eunice O’Brien (deceased), and younger brother Harold Hodges. I leave on earth, my brother Harold (Shirley) of Sioux City, IA, and many tremendous families of uncles, aunts, cousins, nephews, nieces, and a host of wonderful friends.

After graduating from Sioux City, Iowa, Central High School in 1957, I went to college at Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa, Idaho. I graduated in 1963 with a degree in Religion and proceeded to pastor churches in Iowa for two years. I then worked for the Iowa State Department of Social Services. I returned to college, University of Iowa, 1967-1969, for a master’s degree in social work, and worked for the state of Iowa and private community mental health center. Then in 1975, we moved to Columbus, Ohio to work for Veterans Affairs for 24 years, and then again for private community mental health center in Ohio, until in 2003, I retired so I could provide more care for my wife Dottie.

Upon retiring in 2003, we considered moving to Branson, Missouri, where they have a lot of great gospel music every day. We resisted that urge, though, and moved to Aberdeen, SD, hoping to have some positive influence on our grandchildren. We believe we had some success in that endeavor.

Over the years we enjoyed wonderful vacations, hiking mountain trails, swimming beautiful lakes and oceans, driving through beautiful parts of God’s ever-changing creation, and going to fifteen major league baseball parks to watch games and crowds. We have vacationed in most every part of the U.S., including 44 of the 50 states, and we had a goal of hiking in all of the National Parks – a goal we did not nearly meet. My favorite National Park was Yosemite, in east-central California, where I visited about a dozen times, at times with family and friends, and once just the two of us. Oh, what great memories come flooding into my mind as I write these thoughts and memories.

As you probably all know, my church has always been the center of my life, and Sunday morning Worship Service has always been the best half-day of every week. My relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ is uppermost in my list of clean living as a husband, father, church member, and a person of integrity.

For many years, I have been on the Spirit-led journey that is still unfolding. My wife and I were rich in the way that counts. My “vision statement” still is: live gratefully, work competently, think biblically, study continually, relate ethically, witness faithfully, and lead strategically. The Spirit-led journey continues as I write. Music has always been a great ministry to me, as well as a stress reliever, and although I don’t have a super voice, it has been my privilege in Aberdeen to sing with three, sometimes four different singing groups, and we have sung in most of the area’s nursing homes, and many of the senior apartments, most of them many times. The highlight of every month were the days we sang at Dottie’s nursing home. Many of the songs we sing are old gospel hymns, which are very familiar to our audiences. You probably didn’t know I almost earned a degree in music composition, and if I had ever really retired, I might have used the time to write poems and music using the words of each of the Psalms. This was one of my life goals during my college days. One of my favorite musical memories was singing in the month of daughter Angie’s 50th birthday, “Our Song,”

Just a few things to remember: always hold your head up high;

Be too proud to beg or steal; Yet be faithful, warm, and real;

And don’t ever let the world see you cry.

Always seek guidance from God up above;

Share your affection in a world starved for love.

And should heartaches ever throw you, no matter where in this old world,

Just remember, I LOVE YOU, and you’re still Daddy’s girl.

Please know that my soul, the only living part of me now, is in the creative hands of our Lord, Jesus Christ. It is my request that my body be cremated, and that a memorial service be planned at the Arise Church of the Nazarene. During the memorial service, please think briefly about my “life verse,” Ephesians 4:1, “As a prisoner of the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” The King James version: “ Walk worthy of the vocation to which you were called.” Songs during the service may include “When We All Get to Heaven,” “Great is Thy Faithfulness,” and “It Is Well with My Soul.” St. Peter wrote a couple of powerful letters, and these verses are for you all today: II Peter 1:12-15, “I will always remind you of these things as long as I live…so that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.”

Dottie and I have read the Bible through, Genesis to Revelation, most years, starting about 1992, and I continue to read alone more quickly now that Dottie is with the Lord. As I read it today, it occurs to me that a good passage to be read at my memorial service may be Philippians 3:7-16; especially note verse 12 and 14: “I press on, I press on!” Also, Philippians 4:4-9: “Rejoice in the Lord always…” and II Timothy 4:6-8.

Jude, verse 24; “To Him, who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy, to the only God our Savior, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen!