Clarence Porter Hodge

Clarence Porter Hodge, 91, passed away early on March 6, 2021, at Wooldridge Nursing Care Center in Corpus Christi, Texas. Born July 16, 1929, in Rock Creek, Ohio, to Wilmer Elliot and Isabelle Rose Hodge, Clarence was known to his Ohio family and friends as “Conky” and in Texas as “Hodge.” Hodge met his wife, Audrey Grace Grosse, of nearly 64 years when serving the USAF in San Antonio as a Sergeant/Drill Instructor and she was the secretary to a Colonel. They married in 1951 and moved to Corpus establishing Hodge’s Saw Service, sharpening the many saws and tools used in the growth of Corpus Christi and the Naval Air Station in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Audrey and Hodge worked hard but managed to relax/play on weekends at the Nueces River property, holiday gatherings in San Antonio with Audrey’s family and annual summer vacations in Ohio with Conky’s family. The car journeys to Ohio always included opportunities for learning with stops at historical sites, caverns or landmarks. [Hodge even managed to make the operation of a ship canal exciting to his 2 little girls!] Hodge and Audrey enjoyed some leisure travel around the U.S.A. after the girls left the Hamlett Street nest.

Survivors include: daughters Karen Lynne Hayes (Bill) of Shell, Wyoming and Theresa Rose Hodge of Corpus Christi, Texas; 2 grandsons Michael and William Hodge Burnett of Corpus Christi; and 2 great grandsons Michael Samson and Hani Amir Burnett of Corpus Christi, TX; sisters-in-law Phyllis Hodge of Orwell, OH and Dorothy Grosse of San Antonio, TX as well as many nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews.

He is preceded in death by his parents, his siblings: Lynn Hodge, Earl Hodge and Ruth Hodge Prine Oberry of Ohio as well as his wife, Audrey.

Theresa and I express special gratitude for the care and attention from all the staff of Wooldridge Place Nursing Center and River City Hospice, as well as the devotion and friendship of caregiver Shelia Vegh.

Hodge was a member of the Al Amin Shrine Temple and for many years he and Mamma enjoyed working the events benefitting the Shrine Children’s Hospitals. Memorial donations, in lieu of flowers, are greatly appreciated and may be sent to:
Al Amin Shriners Hospital Transportation Fund
2001 Suntide Road
Corpus Christi, TX 78409

Clarence will be honored in memory at the Coastal Bend Texas State Veterans Cemetery on Flag Day, Monday, June 14, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. under the Committal Shelter Pavilion. He and Audrey’s interment together in C 150 of the Columbarium Wall took place on March 16, 2021.

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