- Born on: July 19, 1935
- Departed on: December 29, 2023
- Resided in: Lone Tree, IA
David Milton Hodges
Dad's life was a chart topper. A life with themes plucked straight from a Nashville recording studio: lost love, plenty of women, Jack Daniel's and America.
He served as a Corporal in the United States Marine Corps training snipers during the Korean War. While stationed in Okinawa, Japan he dated and fell in love with a Japanese woman, but like any good, 'ole fashioned, country song, it just wasn't meant to be. Dad spent the rest of his years chasing love and spreading his seed far and wide. Eight marriages to seven wives (one brave soul married him twice), bearing eight children later (that we know of), his adult children span across the United States — Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas, lowa, and California.
Alzheimer's took his memories and his many wives took his money, but Dad kept his childish sense of humor, his bohemian orneriness, and his love of the Marines and the Iowa Hawkeyes right up til the end. And...about the end? Dad had more lives than a cat and a video game character combined; he topped out at 22 near-death experiences. (I can lie a little as he’d say, but 22 is pretty damn close!) Dad will forever be 17 and holding, or was it 28? Or 21? Or 32? He changed the age he was going to "hold" at various times throughout the years. And who could ever forget the look on his face every time he would learn he had eight kids. His impeccable response would be "Well I'll be damned!" "Really?!" “You’re kidding me!” Then he'd chuckle.
His biggest regrets include not chasing ALL of the world's beautiful women, not retiring from the Marines, failing to win a lifetime of Jack Daniel's whiskey, being a less than spectacular dad, and seemingly, as at least six women can attest, an even lousier husband. (Or, in his defense, maybe he was just lousy at choosing good women.) But his love for his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren was undeniable. While reading his obituary to him, to ensure accuracy and appropriateness, neither of which Dad displayed regularly, he said the only thing he would add “tell them at least I got to see my daughter!” The rest of it he didn’t quite find humorous but did say it was pretty damn accurate.
As dad would want everyone to know: God Bless America, Semper Fi fellow Marines, and GO HAWKEYES!! A private family celebration of life and burial will take place at Kentucky Veterans Cemetery West in Hopkinsville, KY. In lieu of flowers, please pour a glass of Jack Daniel's neat during the next Iowa Hawkeyes football game to cheer on his favorite team. Thank God for our Marines who have sacrificed their all to allow us to cheer for dad's Hawkeyes!
He served as a Corporal in the United States Marine Corps training snipers during the Korean War. While stationed in Okinawa, Japan he dated and fell in love with a Japanese woman, but like any good, 'ole fashioned, country song, it just wasn't meant to be. Dad spent the rest of his years chasing love and spreading his seed far and wide. Eight marriages to seven wives (one brave soul married him twice), bearing eight children later (that we know of), his adult children span across the United States — Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas, lowa, and California.
Alzheimer's took his memories and his many wives took his money, but Dad kept his childish sense of humor, his bohemian orneriness, and his love of the Marines and the Iowa Hawkeyes right up til the end. And...about the end? Dad had more lives than a cat and a video game character combined; he topped out at 22 near-death experiences. (I can lie a little as he’d say, but 22 is pretty damn close!) Dad will forever be 17 and holding, or was it 28? Or 21? Or 32? He changed the age he was going to "hold" at various times throughout the years. And who could ever forget the look on his face every time he would learn he had eight kids. His impeccable response would be "Well I'll be damned!" "Really?!" “You’re kidding me!” Then he'd chuckle.
His biggest regrets include not chasing ALL of the world's beautiful women, not retiring from the Marines, failing to win a lifetime of Jack Daniel's whiskey, being a less than spectacular dad, and seemingly, as at least six women can attest, an even lousier husband. (Or, in his defense, maybe he was just lousy at choosing good women.) But his love for his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren was undeniable. While reading his obituary to him, to ensure accuracy and appropriateness, neither of which Dad displayed regularly, he said the only thing he would add “tell them at least I got to see my daughter!” The rest of it he didn’t quite find humorous but did say it was pretty damn accurate.
As dad would want everyone to know: God Bless America, Semper Fi fellow Marines, and GO HAWKEYES!! A private family celebration of life and burial will take place at Kentucky Veterans Cemetery West in Hopkinsville, KY. In lieu of flowers, please pour a glass of Jack Daniel's neat during the next Iowa Hawkeyes football game to cheer on his favorite team. Thank God for our Marines who have sacrificed their all to allow us to cheer for dad's Hawkeyes!
