Betty Gray (Herring) Hodges

Betty Herring Hodges, 97, passed away on March 12th at 12:30 pm after a lengthy period of declining health.

She was born in Goldsboro on October 1, 1917, the daughter of Joshua Respess and Maude Smith Herring. At the age of nine, she moved with her family to Beaufort, NC and upon graduation from Beaufort High School in 1934 she attended East Carolina Teachers College (now East Carolina University), from which she earned a two-year normal certificate. In the fall of 1936 she was employed by the Duplin County Public Schools to teach first grade in Calypso. Shortly thereafter she met and married F. Roland Hodges of Mount Olive. The couple made their home on North Church Street where they lived for nearly sixty years. To complete her four-year college degree, she attended summer sessions at Atlantic Christian (now Barton) College, from which she earned a B. A. in 1952. For twenty-five years (from 1954 to 1979) she was a first grade teacher in the Wayne County Public Schools, first at Mount Olive and then at Carver Elementary, where she was active in several local, state and national educational organizations. In addition to her career as an educator, she was for more than fifty years both pianist and organist at the First Christian Church of which she was a charter member. At various times during her years in Mount Olive she belonged to the Service League, Garden Club, Galatea Club and a Bridge Club. She was an attentive caregiver to her invalid husband for more than a decade and in 1999, a few years after his death, she made the decision to sell her home in Mount Olive and move to Harborview Towers in Morehead City in order to be near family in that area. Following the closure of Harborview Towers in 2013, she moved to Beaufort Towne Apartments.

In addition to her parents and her husband, she was preceded in death by a sister, Sara H. Willis of Morehead City and a brother, L. Jarvis Herring of Beaufort.

She is survived by a daughter, Charlotte H. Maxwell (Gordon) of Goldsboro; a son, Francis R. Hodges III (Marianne) of Lakeland, FL; two granddaughters, Elizabeth M. Pelletier (Walter) of Goldsboro and Mildred G. Maxwell of Raleigh; two grandsons, Lawrence Albert Hodges (Angela) of Kathleen, GA and David R. Hodges of Vashon, WA; seven great-grandchildren; two great-great grandchildren; one niece and two nephews.

The family would like to extend special thanks to her caregivers Estelle Jennette, Neta Willis, Darlene Campbell and Marla Lawrence.

The funeral will be held on Saturday, March 14, 2015 at 11:00 am at Maplewood Cemetery, Mount Olive, NC.

Visitation will be at the home of Charlotte and Gordon Maxwell after the service. A light lunch will be served.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to Community Health Care & Hospice, PO Box 245, Swansboro, NC 28584.

Online condolences may be made to the family at www.mundenfuneralhome.net

Arrangements by Munden Funeral Home and Crematory Inc. of Morehead City.