Anale Wilson Hodge

1920 - 2021

Posted

Anale Wilson Hodge died on May 7, 2021 at the age of 100 years. She was reared on her family’s ranch at Juno, and in Del Rio. She graduated from Del Rio High School and then attended the University of Texas, as well as UT Law School. Although she did not finish with a law degree, she was one of the few women of her time to attend law school. She married Roger Weldon (Wally) Hodge on November 20, 1940 in Del Rio. He predeceased her in 1972.

She was a longtime rancher on their family ranch near Juno in Val Verde County. She was a lifelong member of the First Presbyterian Church of Del Rio and a past chair of the Women of the Church as well as past president and sustaining member of the Del Rio Fine Arts Club.

With her husband Roger Weldon (Wally) Hodge, she was involved in numerous statewide and national agricultural associations, including the National Wool Growers Association and the Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers Association. She worked with him to promote wool and mohair, and traveled with him widely in the interests of the industry. She was honored to be a representative of the Texas Ranching Industry in a women’s exchange trip to the USSR in the 1980’s.

Anale believed in staying active and enjoyed outdoor activities. She also loved to play bridge. Until a year before her death, she regularly played bridge two or more times a week with friends. She attended church regularly all of her life, even after she became hard of hearing and could not always understand the minister. She was a passionate reader and loved to travel with her husband and after his death with close friends. When she couldn’t lift her suitcase, she started strength training in her 60’s and continued exercising until her late 90’s. Anale grew up on the ranch of her parents, B.E. and Elsie Earwood Wilson, near Juno and enjoyed working livestock on horseback and target shooting. She always said she liked ranches and the outdoors more than kitchens and the indoors. Late in life, she delighted in growing roses and wildflowers and watching the birds in her carefully tended garden in Del Rio.

Survivors include a son and daughter-in-law, Byron W. Hodge and Ann Wright Hodge of Del Rio; a daughter and son-law, Merily Hodge Keller and Tom W. Keller of Austin; and a daughter, Luralee Hodge Wallace of San Antonio. Anale is also survived by five grandchildren: Roger Dwight Hodge of Brooklyn, New York; Jessica Hodge of Owings Mills, Maryland; Shay Wright Scruggs of College Station, Texas; Sed Wilson Keller of Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Martin Wilson Wallace of San Antonio, Texas; and ten great-grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews, and great- nieces and nephews. Her grandson Chase Walter Keller predeceased her in 2000, and her son-in-law Tom R. Wallace predeceased her in 2018.

Graveside only services will be held at the Masonic Cemetery in Del Rio on May 23, 2021 at 9:00 a.m. with Chris McReynolds, officiant.

Arrangements by Sunset Memorial Oaks Funeral Home, Del Rio.