Eileen T. Hodge

Eileen T. Hodge of Madison died peacefully on Friday, December 27, 2024. She was 88.

Eileen was born in Brooklyn, New York, where she grew up as the adoring older sister of Judith (Collins) Musgrave. She attended Holy Innocents School and St. Joseph’s College for Women, earning a bachelor’s degree in English. She pursued graduate studies in Education at Brooklyn College, and became an English teacher at Erasmus High School. In 1960 Eileen married Robert Hodge, and they were happily married for 60 years. Their rich life together took them to New Jersey, California and Wisconsin, and to travel destinations all over the US, Europe and New Zealand. Eileen was a devoted, loving and joyful mother to her children Elizabeth and Andrew, and grandmother to her beloved Kiya. She said she “loved every minute” of being a mother and grandmother.

Upon moving to Wisconsin, Eileen became a religious educator and earned a master’s degree in Counseling and Guidance at UW-Madison. She served many parishes as the Director of Religious Education. Eileen also worked for the Office on Aging while living in Flemington, NJ. She specialized in grief counseling and led a Parkinson’s support group.

After a lifetime as a devout, progressive Catholic, Eileen converted to Lutheranism and became a faithful member of the community at Luther Memorial Church. Service was at the heart of her faith, and Eileen did volunteer work wherever she lived, cooking for food programs, tutoring at Thoreau Elementary School, working on Tammy Baldwin’s first Senatorial campaign, and participating in the Edgewood Nursing School interview project. She also contributed to the Dictionary of American Regional English.

Eileen loved food, parties, travel, words, birds, poetry, theology, silly songs, chocolate, Broadway musicals and most of all, her family and friends.

Eileen was preceded in death by her husband Robert Hodge and her parents Joseph and Marion Collins. She is survived by her cherished family: children Elizabeth and Andrew, granddaughter Kiya, daughter-in-law Andrea Martens, sister Judy Musgrave, brother-in-law Joseph Musgrave, sister-in-law Marianne Hodge and her 9 nieces and nephews and their children. She loved them all, and they knew it. She is also survived by an invaluable group of devoted friends, who brightened her life every day. In her later years, Eileen was doted upon by a dedicated team of caregivers, especially Anna Minard and Maria Grosse. The family is overwhelmingly grateful to them. The family also thanks Agrace Hospice for their compassionate care. 

Eileen will be missed for her sharp wit, her rollicking hospitality, her strength of character, her steadfast faith and her embrace of life. She will be remembered with great love and laughter, which is exactly what she would have wanted. 

There will be a visitation at Cress Funeral Home Far West (6021 University Avenue) on January 10 from 1:00-4:00 PM. Funeral services will be held at 11:00 AM CST on Saturday, January 11th at Luther Memorial Church (1021 University Avenue) followed by a luncheon. The funeral will be livestreamed, with the link appearing on luthermem.org. Flowers may be sent to Cress. Donations may be made to Second Harvest Foodbank, https://www.secondharvestsw.org/, PBS, https://www.pbs.org/ or Luther Memorial Church, https://www.luthermem.org/.

“May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.”

Please share your memories of Eileen here on her tribute page. 

Cress Center

6021 University Ave. Madison

(608) 238-8406