Ranger Exes Memorial - RHS Class of 1903

Robert Hodges DR. ROBERT HENRY "BOB" HODGES, SR. was born at Pon Creek near Lott in Falls County, TX, in January of 1885, but the family moved to Ranger, TX in 1891 when he was 5. He was the son of Scott Allen & William Ross "Sog" Hodges. He had three brothers and three sisters, Berta Hodges, Irene Hodges, Homer A. Hodges, Richard Allen Hodges, Lula Hodges, & William Ross Hodges. Dr. Bob finished school in Ranger in 1903 and attended Texas A&M, majoring in Agriculture, and, in 1910, grad- uated Kansas City Veterinary College with a D.V.S. degree. In Waco, he practiced veterinary medicine until 1918 with his younger brother, William Ross Hodges, and in 1918, they sold the Vet. Clinic there & he returned to Ranger to administer his father’s estate. William Ross "Sog" Hodges, born in 1845, probably in Alabama, had died in Ranger on May 17, 1917. Dr. Bob had married Opie Bristow of Temple in 1918. In Ranger, he helped to incorporate the City of Ranger, served on the Ranger City Commission and after his friends, M.H. Hagaman and John M. Gholson, he became Ranger’s third mayor, serving two terms, 1923-1927. He was instrumental in building the City-County Hospital, helped found the R anger Chamber of Commerce, and served on that entity as President and as Director. He taught boys Sunday School Class and was a role model for area youth. In 1937 he was ordained as a deacon in the First Baptist Church and later served several years as Chairman of the Board of Deacons. He died in Ranger in October of 1961. The first records of the Hodges ancestry placed them in South Carolina during the Revolutionary War when Dr. Bob's great-grandfather, William E. Hodges fought with Morrison's Raiders. W.E. moved the family to Georgia and then to Alabama. His son, Homer Hodges, Dr. Bob's grandfather moved his family to Texas. William Ross "Sog" Hodges, Dr. Bob's father, besides his interest in cattle and ranching, was interested in community affairs and in 1886 he was elected to the Ranger School Board and served on the board for several years. His heirs donated the land for the Hodges Oak Park Elementary School which was built in 1926 and named in his honor. He and his wife, Scott and all of their children, except Burtie, are buried in the Evergreen Cemetery in Ranger. Burtie is buried in the Pioneer Cemetery in Ranger. WIFE: OPIE BRISTOW HODGES) was born in Temple on June 29, 1891 & graduated from Mary Hardin College with a degree in Education. She taught school in San Antonio and was a high school principal before her marriage in 1918. She was instrumental in the founding of Ranger Junior College and the 1920 Club, a coordinator of the Adult Education School and helped to organize Student Loan Fund and Child Welfare in Ranger. She was a member of the W.M.U. and taught a Sunday School class for many years in the First Baptist Church of Ranger. They had three children, Robert Henry Hodges, Jr., and the twins, Ross and Richard "Dickie". Opie died in Ranger in Dec. of 1955. SON: ROBERT H. "BOB" HODGES, JR., was born on Dec. 2, 1919 in Ranger to Opie Bristow & Dr. Bob Hodges, Sr. (RHS-1903). He died, at the age of 29, on Dec. 22, 1948. He had two brothers who were twins, Richard and Ross Hodges who were in the RHS Class of 1938. Bob may have attended Ranger High School but his class is unknown.